Rare Earth Elements (REE) Gems : ClassicGems.net Rare Earth Elements (REE) Gems Rare Earth Element minerals (also referred to as "REE minerals") are minerals that contain at least one of the fifteen chemical elements in the periodic table known as the lanthanides, as well as scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y). Scandium and yttrium are not lanthanides but are considered to be rare earth elements because they tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibit similar chemical properties. The lanthanide series of chemical elements comprises the fifteen metallic elements with atomic numbers from 57 (lanthanum) through 71 (lutetium).

The fifteen lanthanides are (in order of atomic number starting from the lowest): 57 lanthanum (La), 58 cerium (Ce), 59 praseodymium (Pr), 60 neodymium (Nd), 61 promethium (Pm), 62 samarium (Sm), 63 europium (Eu), 64 gadolinium (Gd), 65 terbium (Tb), 66 dysprosium (Dy), 67 holmium (Ho), 68 erbium (Er), 69 thulium (Tm), 70 ytterbium (Yb) and 71 lutetium (Lu). Click here for more detailed information on the lanthanides near the bottom of this page. The term "rare earth element" is somewhat outdated as these elements are not particularily rare nor are they "earths". "Earths" is an obsolete mineralogical term referring to "water-insoluble, strongly basic oxides of electropositive metals incapable of being smelted into metal" (using late 18th century technology).

The REE elements certainly are not rare. Cerium is the most abundant lanthanide and is the 26th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, about as abundant as copper and more so than tin. Neodymium is more abundant than gold. The scarcest of the lanthanides, thulium, is more abundant than arsenic or mercury and they are not considered to be rare. The "rare" in rare earth elements originally referred to them typically being widely dispersed in very small quantities throughout the Earth's crust and very difficult to obtain in their pure form. Because lanthanides tend to congregate in the same minerals, the original isolation and identification of the lanthanides was very difficult and took well over a century of scientific development and discovery. It took over 100 years for all of the natrually occuring lanthanides to be discovered and over 150 years before the last lanthanide, the synthetic Promethium, would be "discovered". The lanthanides are named after the element lanthanum (La) because it is the first in the group because it has the lowest atomic number, 57, of the group.

The name "lanthanide" was introduced by Swiss born mineralogist Victor Moritz Goldschmidt (1888-1947) in 1925. Victor Goldschmidt, together with Russian mineralogist and geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky (1863-1945), were considered to be the founders of modern geochemistry and crystal chemistry. Goldschmidt was also the developer of the Goldschmidt Classification of elements. The name lanthanum comes from the Greek word λανθανω (lanthánein) meaning to lie hidden. This description may refer to the discovery of the element lanthanum as it was discovered "lying hidden" within a cerium bearing mineral that had previously been analysed. Many of the lanthanides were later discovered "lying hidden" within minerals that had previously been analysed. The discovery of the lanthanides began in 1787 with the discovery of the mineral Ytterbite.

Swedish chemist Carl Axel Arrhenius (1757-1824) found a dark mineral that he could not identify in a feldspar mine near Ytterby, on the island of Resarön, Sweden. Arrhenius named the black mineral Ytterbite after the nearby town of Ytterby. Arrhenius sent a sample of Ytterbite to Finish chemist Johan Gadolin (1760-1852) at Uppsala University, Finland, where he began a detailed analysis of it in 1794. He found it contained silica, alumina, iron oxide and an unknown "earth". Gadolin’s results were confirmed in 1797 by Swedish chemist Anders Gustaf Ekeberg (1767-1813). Ekeberg suggested the name yttria (later called yttrium) for the oxide of the new earth metal. Gadolin is credited with the discovery of the element yttrium.

The mineral Ytterbite was renamed Gadolinite in 1800 by German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743-1817) in honor of Johan Gadolin. Klaproth discovered uranium, zirconium and cerium. Yttrium was the first of the rare earth elements to be discovered from Ytterbite. But the yttrium discovered by Gadolin also contained several other rare earth metal oxides. Over the next century, several of the remaining lanthanides were extracted from Ytterbite (Gadolinite). The Swedish chemist Carl Gustaf Mosander (1797-1858) was responsible for discovering lanthanum, erbium and terbium. The mineral Mosandrite was named in his honor in 1841. The remaining lanthanide elements, ytterbium, thulium, holmium, dysprosium, lutetium and promethium, were discovered separately over many years. In 1907 lutetium was the last of the naturally occuring lanthanides to be discovered.

However, the existence of an element between neodymium (atomic number 60) and samarium (atomic number 62) was predicted by Czech chemist Bohuslav Brauner (1855-1935) in 1902. This was confirmed by English phyisicist Henry Moseley (1887-1915) in 1914. Finally in 1945, after many attempts by many scientists, firm evidence that element 61 had been isolated was produced by Charles D. Coryell, Lawrence E. Glendenin, Jacob A. Marinsky, and Harold G. Richter at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. They produced element 61 by fission of uranium and neutron bombardment of neodymium in a graphite reactor. They named the new element Promethium after the Greek Titan Prometheus, who, according to Greek mythology, stole fire from Mount Olympus to give to mankind. The name was accepted in 1949 by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry ( IUPAC ). Promethium is considered a synthetic element and does not occur naturally in the Earth's crust.

Promethium has been identified however, in the spectrum of the star HR465 in the Andromeda Galaxy approximately 780 kiloparsecs (2.5 million light-years; 2.4×1019 km) from Earth. Listed below are gems containing at least one of the REE elements and the REE elements contained in each one. List of Elements of the Periodic Table - Sorted by Atomic number energy (eV) Notes: • Density of elements with boiling points below 0°C is given in g/l and in sorted list they are shown before other elements with boling point >0°C. • Earth crust composition average values are from a report by F. W. Clarke and H. S. Washington, 1924. Elemental composition of crustal rocks differ between different localities ( see article ). • Group: There are only 18 groups in the periodic table that constitute the columns of the table. Lanthanoids and Actinoids are numbered as 101 and 102 to separate them in sorting by group. Abbreviations and Definitions: M.P. - melting point B.P.

- boiling point Atomic number: The number of protons in an atom. Each element is uniquely defined by its atomic number. Atomic mass: The mass of an atom is primarily determined by the number of protons and neutrons in its nucleus. Atomic mass is measured in Atomic Mass Units (amu) which are scaled relative to carbon, 12C, that is taken as a standard element with an atomic mass of 12. This isotope of carbon has 6 protons and 6 neutrons. Thus, each proton and neutron has a mass of about 1 amu. Isotope: Atoms of the same element with the same atomic number, but different number of neutrons. Isotope of an element is defined by the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in its nucleus. Elements have more than one isotope with varying numbers of neutrons. For example, there are two common isotopes of carbon, 12C and 13C which have 6 and 7 neutrons respectively. The abundances of different isotopes of elements vary in nature depending on the source of materials. For relative abundances of isotopes in nature see reference on Atomic Weights and Isotopic Compositions .

Atomic weight: Atomic weight values represent weighted average of the masses of all naturally occurring isotopes of an element. The values shown here are based on the IUPAC Commission determinations ( Pure Appl. Chem. 73:667-683, 2001 ). The elements marked with an asterisk have no stable nuclides. For these elements the weight value shown represents the mass number of the longest-lived isotope of the element. Electron configuration: The distribution of electrons according to the energy sublevels (subshells) in uncharged atoms. The noble gas shown in square brackets (e.g. [He]), marks that all the subshells associated with that element are fully occupied by electrons. Energy levels and sublevels Lanthanide | Article about lanthanide by The Free Dictionary Lanthanide | Article about lanthanide by The Free Dictionary Related to lanthanide: actinide , Lanthanide contraction Lanthanides a family of 14 chemical elements, with atomic numbers from 58 to 71, that follow lanthanum in the sixth period of the Mendeleev periodic system (see Table 1).

The lanthanides and the elements scandium, yttrium, and lanthanum, which are similar to them, make up the rare earths. This name stems from the fact that the elements are rarely encountered and form refractory oxides that are insoluble in water and were known in the ancient terminology as earths. The rare earths are found in a side subgroup of Group III of the periodic system. The lanthanides are very close to one another in their chemical properties as a result of the electron shell structure of their atoms. As the charge of the nucleus increases, the structure of the two outer electron shells does not change, because electrons are added to the third from the outer shell—the deep-lying 4f level. The maximum possible number of electrons in an/level is 14, which determines the number of elements in the lanthanide family. The lanthanides are divided into two subgroups—the cerium subgroup, including cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), and europium (Eu); and the yttrium subgroup, including gadolinium Table 1.

Atomic number, atomic mass, and certain other properties of elements of the lanthanide family Magnetic moments of tri-valent ions in Bohr magnetons * Content in earth’s crust (% by weight) 4f ”From measurements of paramagnetic susceptibility †Mass number of the longest-lived isotope, 145Pm Lanthanum ............... 0 8 × 10−5 (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu). This division results from the periodicity of the change in a number of properties within the lanthanide family; the names of the subgroups are of historical origin. History. The mineral ytterbite (later renamed gadolinite) was found in 1788 in the Swedish village of Ytterby. In 1794, Johan Gadolin discovered the new yttrium earth in ytterbite. In 1803, J. J. Berzelius and W.

Hisinger (1766–1852) and, independently, M. Klaproth (1743–1817) discovered cerium earth (named for the asteroid Ceres) in “hard rock from Bastnäs.” At first both of these earths were thought to be oxides of the previously unknown metals yttrium and cerium. In 1843 the Swedish chemist C. G. Mosander (1797–1858) separated yttrium earth into yttrium, erbium, and terbium earths (all three names are derived from Ytterby). In 1878, J. Marignac separated ytterbium from erbium earth, and in 1879 the Swedish chemist P. T. Cleve separated holmium earth (from Holmia, the Latin name for Stockholm) and thulium earth (from Thule, the ancient Greek name for lands in the far north) from it. In 1886, P. E.

Lecoq de Boisbaudran separated holmium earth into holmium and dysprosium earths (from the Greek dysprositos, “difficult of access”). In 1907 the French chemist G. Urbain (1872–1938) found lutetium in yttrium earth (from Lutetia, the Latin name for Paris). The same process of discovery was repeated for cerium earth. In 1839–41, Mosander separated cerium into lanthanum earth (from the Greek lanthano, “I hide”), didymium earth (from the Greek didymos, “twin”), and cerium earth. In 1879, while studying didymium earth obtained from the mineral samarskite, found in the Urals (so named in 1847 by Heinrich Rose [1795–1864] for the director of the Russian Corps of Mining Engineers, V. E.

Samarskii-Bykhovets [1803–70], who supplied Rose with a considerable quantity of the mineral), Lecoq de Boisbaudran isolated samarium earth. In 1886 he succeeded in isolating gadolinium earth (named for Gadolin) from didymium earth, which proved to be identical with the earth discovered in samarskite by Marignac in 1880. In 1885 the Austrian chemist C. Auer von Welsbach (1858–1929) separated didymium earth into praseodymium earth (from the Greek prasios, “light green”) and neodymium earth (from the Greek neos, “new”). In 1901 the French chemist E. Dermarçay (1852–1904) separated samarium earth into samarium and europium. Thus, all the lanthanides had been discovered by the beginning of the 20th century, except for the radioactive element with atomic number 61, which is not found in nature.

It was obtained only in 1947 by the American physicists J. Marinsky, L. Glendinen, and C. Coryell from uranium fission fragments in a nuclear reactor and was named promethium (from the name Prometheus). Although the lanthanides had been discovered by the beginning of the 20th century, many of them had neither been isolated in sufficiently pure form nor carefully studied. The efficient methods of isolation developed in the last 20 years make possible the production of both the lanthanide compounds and the lanthanide metals themselves in highly pure form. Occurrence in nature. The total content of lanthanum and the lanthanides in the earth’s crust is 1.78 × 10−2 percent by mass; lanthanides with even atomic numbers are more abundant than their neighbors with odd numbers. Lanthanides are characteristic elements of the earth’s crust; they are rare in rock of the mantle and in rock meteorites. In magmatic processes, lanthanides accumulate in granitoids and particularly in alkali rocks. There are 33 known cerium minerals and nine lanthanum minerals.

The remaining lanthanides are found as isomorphic impurities in the crystal lattices of other minerals, mainly the rare earths. In many minerals, lanthanides isomorphically replace calcium, uranium, and thorium. In the biosphere lanthanides are relatively immobile, which accounts for their accumulation in placers. The content of lanthanides in natural waters and in organisms is negligible. The aqueous and biogenic migration of lanthanides has not been studied in detail. Deposits of lanthanide phosphates, fluocarbonates, and fluorides are known, but complex deposits associated with alkali magmatic rock (such as the nepheline syenites from the Kola Peninsula) and carbonatites, as well as deposits of sedimentary phosphorites, the crust of weathering of alkali rocks, seashore and alluvial deposits of xenotime and monazite, have greater industrial importance. Physical properties. Lanthanides are metals with a silver-white color (some, such as praseodymium and neodymium, are slightly yellowish). Most of the lanthanides have a closely packed hexagonal crystal structure.

Exceptions are γ-cerium and α-ytterbium, which have a cubic face-centered structure; samarium, which has a rhombohedral structure; and europium, which has a cubic body-centered structure. The fact that the number of electrons in the two outer shells usually does not change in passing from cerium to lutetium, whereas the positive charge of the nucleus increases steadily, leads to a stronger attraction of the electrons to the nucleus and results in so-called lanthanide contraction. Thus, the radii of neutral lanthanide atoms and ions of identical valence decrease somewhat with increasing atomic number. The melting points of elements of the cerium subgroup are significantly lower than those of the yttrium subgroup. Lanthanides of high purity are plastic and easily deformable (for example, by forging and rolling). The mechanical properties depend strongly on the content of impurities, particularly oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon. Values of the ultimate strength and elastic modulus of metals of the yttrium subgroup (except ytterbium) are greater than for the cerium subgroup.

All lanthanides except lanthanum and lutetium are highly paramagnetic at greater than room temperature as a result of uncompensated spin and orbital magnetic moments in their 4f subshells. In the low-temperature region, most of the lanthanides of the cerium subgroup (neodymium, praseodymium, and samarium) are found in an antiferromagnetic state, whereas the lanthanides of the yttrium subgroup (terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, and thulium) are in a ferromagnetic state at very low temperatures and undergo transition to the helicoid antiferromagnetic state at higher temperatures. At temperatures below 293°K (that is, up to the Curie temperature), gadolinium is in a ferromagnetic state. Terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, and thulium have high magnetic susceptibility and extremely high values of the energies of magnetic anisotropy and magnetostriction, which makes possible the production from them of magnetic materials (alloys, ferrites, and chalcogens) with unique properties.

Alpha-lanthanum becomes a superconductor at 4.9°K; β-lanthanum, at 5.85°K. Superconductivity of other lanthanides has not been observed. Chemical properties. Lanthanides are characterized by high chemical activity. Upon heating they react with hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide and dioxide. Lanthanides decompose water and dissolve in hydrochloric, sulfuric, and nitric acids. Above 180°–200°C, lanthanides oxidize rapidly in air. A valence of 3 is characteristic of all lanthanides; some of them also have valences of 4 or 2. The oxides of lanthanides and lanthanum are refractory. Hydroxides of the type R(OH)3 are basic and are insoluble in alkalies. The chlorides, sulfates, and nitrates of trivalent lanthanides are soluble in water and crystallize mostly in the form of crystal hydrates of various compositions.

Their fluorides, oxalates, phosphates, carbonates, and ferrocyanides are only slightly soluble in water and dilute mineral acids. The triply charged cations of cerium, gadolinium, terbium, ytterbium, and lutetium are colorless; those of promethium, europium, and erbium, pink; those of samarium, dysprosium, and holmium, yellow; those of praseodymium and thulium, green; and those of neodymium, violet-red. Most simple lanthanide salts tend to form double salts with the salts of alkali metals, ammonia, and magnesium. Lanthanides form complexes with many organic compounds. The more important such complexes are those with citric acid and a series of aminopolyacetic acids, such as nitrilotriacetic and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acids and other “complexons”. Such compounds are used in processes for the isolation of lanthanides. Production.

The main sources of rare earth elements of the cerium subgroup are the minerals monazite (phosphates of rare earths and thorium), bastnaesite (rare-earth fluocarbonates), and loparite (a complex titanoniobate of sodium, calcium, and rare earth). The main sources of rare earths of the yttrium subgroup are euxenite, fergusonite, xenotime (yttroparisite), and gadolinite. To extract rare earths, monazite and bastnaesite concentrates are decomposed by concentrated sulfuric acid upon heating to 200°C, with subsequent leaching of the material with water. Thorium is initially isolated from sulfuric acid solutions, and then the rare earths are precipitated as oxalates, double sulfates, and other compounds. For decomposition of the monazite concentrates, treatment with alkali solutions is also used, with dissolution of the resulting mixture of hydroxides in hydrochloric or nitric acid. Bastnaesite concentrates are calcined at 400°–800°C to produce partial or complete decomposition of the mineral, accompanied by the evolution of CO2.

The product of the calcination is treated with nitric acid. The rare earths are precipitated as fluorides or double sulfates or are removed by extraction with tributyl phosphate. Complex raw material of the loparite type is chlorinated in the presence of carbon at 700°–800°C. The volatile chlorides of titanium, niobium, and tantalum are removed with the gases. A melt composed of chlorides of rare earths remains in the furnace. The chlorides are dissolved in water, and then the oxalates of rare earths are isolated. The chlorination method is also recommended for the treatment of euxenite. The methods for separating lanthanides are based on the small differences in the properties of their compounds. Fractional crystallization of their salts, such as double nitrates, and fractional precipitation of their hydroxides, sulfates, and oxalates were previously used for this purpose. At present the main methods are based on extraction, in which the difference in the distribution coefficients between aqueous and organic solvents is used. These methods, together with ion-exchange chromatography, make possible the production of all the lanthanides with a high degree of purity.

In addition, the ability of some lanthanides to oxidize to the tetravalent state (for cerium) or to reduce to the divalent state (for samarium, europium, and ytterbium) is also used in separation schemes. Metallothermy or electrolysis is used to obtain lanthanide metals. The metallothermic method is based on the reduction of anhydrous chlorides or fluorides by pure calcium. The process is carried out in a steel bomb lined with calcium oxide or in Table 2. Physical properties of lanthanum and the lanthanides, as well as yttrium and scandium 3.07 6,700 tantalum crucibles in a pure argon atmosphere. This method may be used to produce all the lanthanides except samarium, europium, and ytterbium. The latter may be reduced from their oxides by lanthanum, with subsequent distillation of the metals. All lanthanides may be obtained by electrolysis of their compounds in salt melts.

Metals of the cerium subgroup are separated by the electrolysis of their anhydrous chlorides in KC1 + CaCh2 or KC1 + NaCl melts. In the case of metals of the yttrium subgroup, which are more refractory, the electrolysis is carried out with a liquid cadmium or zinc cathode, which is distilled out under vacuum. Metals produced electrolytically are less pure than those produced by metallothermic methods. Use. Lanthanides are used in the form of metals, alloys, and chemical compounds in various areas of technology. Lanthanide additives (mainly cerium or its alloy with lanthanum) improve the structure, mechanical properties, and corrosion and heat resistance of steel, cast iron, and magnesium and aluminum alloys. The addition of oxides of various lanthanides imparts special physical properties and coloring to glass. Cerium dioxide, CeO2, is used for polishing optical glass. Lanthanide oxides are used for coloring china and lacquered and enamel ware.

Cerium or an alloy of a lanthanide of the cerium subgroup (misch metal) is added to nonexpanding gas absorbers (getters) in electrovacuum instruments. The borides of some lanthanides are used to make the cathodes of large electronic devices. Rare-earth ferrite garnets and orthoferrites are used in super-high-frequency electronics and computer technology. Rare-earth alloys of the SmCo5 type are used in radio electronics and microelectronics for making permanent magnets of record power. Lanthanides are added to crystals for lasers (additives of lanthanide compounds in crystals of CaF2 and other salts). In atomic technology, lanthanides with a large thermal neutron capture cross section, such as gadolinium, samarium, and europium, are used for protection against radiation and to control the operation of reactors. In the chemical industry and light industry, lanthanide compounds are used in the production of paints and varnishes, luminescent preparations (phosphors), catalysts, and photographic reagents.

Some radioactive lanthanide isotopes have found important uses: 147Pm is used for making microscopic batteries, and 170Tm is used in portable medical X-ray devices. In agriculture, lanthanide compounds are used as insecticides and trace fertilizers. This list does not exhaust the various uses of the lanthanides. REFERENCES Serebrennikov, V. V. Khimiia redkozemel’nykh elementov, vols. 1–2. Tomsk, 1959–61. Zelikman, A. N. Metallurgiia redkozemel’nykh metallov toriia i urana. Moscow, 1961. Redkozemel’nye metally. [Compiled by F. H. Spedding and A. H. Daane.] Moscow, 1965. (Translated from English.) Trifonov, D. N. Problema redkikh zemel’. Moscow, 1962. Trifonov, D. N. Splavy redkozemel’nykh metallov. Moscow, 1962.

Belov, K. P. Redkozemel’nye magnitnye materialy: Sb. pamiati akademika L. V. Kiprenskogo. Moscow, 1972. A. N. Z ELIKMAN Mine to Magnet Mine to Magnet Ahead of the Herd As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information The rare earths are a group of 17 elements comprising Scandium, Yttrium, and the Lanthanides. The Lanthanides are a group of 15 (Cerium, Dysprosium, Erbium, Europium, Gadolinium, Holmium, Lanthanum, Lutetium, Neodymium, Praseodymium, Samarium, Terbium, Thorium, Thulium, Ytterbium) chemically similar elements with atomic numbers 57 through 71, inclusive. Yttrium, atomic number 39, isn’t a lanthanide but is included in the rare earths because it often occurs with them in nature - it has similar chemical properties.

Scandium, atomic number 21 is also included in the group although it usually occurs only in minor amounts. The most abundant rare earth elements (REE) are each found in the earth’s crust in amounts equal to nickel, copper, zinc, molybdenum, or lead - Cerium is the 25th most abundant element of the 78 common elements in the Earth’s crust. Even the two least abundant REEs (Thulium, Lutetium) are nearly 200 times more common than gold. Overall Rees have an abundance greater than silver and similar amounts to copper and lead. The “rare” in rare earth elements came from frustrated 19th century chemists who decided they were uncommon after trying to isolate these chemically related elements. REES are also very hard to find in economic concentrations. The Lanthanides are divided into light rare elements, LREE, and heavy rare earth elements, HREE.

Light REE's are made up of the first seven elements of the lanthanide series - Lanthanum (La, atomic number 57), Cerium (Ce, atomic number 58), Praseodymium (Pr, atomic number 59), Neodymium (Nd, atomic number 60) Promethium (Pm, atomic number 61) and Samarium (Sm, atomic number 62). HREEs are made up of the higher atomic numbered elements - Europium (EU, atomic number 63), Gadolinium (Gd, atomic number 64), Terbium (TB, atomic number 65), Dysprosium (Dy, atomic number 66), Holmium (Ho, atomic number 67), Erbium (Er, atomic number 68), Thulium (Tm, atomic number 69), Ytterbium (Yb, atomic number 70) and Lutetium (Lu, atomic number 71). Source USGS The principal economic sources of LREE are the minerals bastnasite and monazite.

In most rare earth deposits, the first four REE - La, Ce, Pr, and Nd - constitute 80 to 99 percent of the total. Deposits of bastnäsite in China and the United States represent the largest percentage of the world’s Rare Earth economic resources. The second largest percentage of the world’s LREE Rare Earth economic resources is monazite. Monazite contains less La, more Nd and some HREE with usually elevated levels of thorium compared to bastnasite. Ion-adsorbed REE in clays from South China provide the bulk of HREE to the market place. Many REE applications are highly specific and substitutes are inferior or unknown: Color cathode-ray tubes and liquid-crystal displays used in computer monitors and televisions employ europium as the red phosphor Terbium is used to make green phosphors for flat-panel TVs and lasers Lanthanum is critical to the oil refining industry, which uses it to make a fluid cracking catalyst that translates into a 7% efficiency gain in converting crude oil into refined gasoline Rechargeable batteries Automotive pollution control catalysts Neodymium is key to the high strength permanent magnets used to make high-efficiency electric motors.

Two other REE minerals - terbium and dysprosium – are added to neodymium to allow it to remain magnetic at high temperatures Fiber-optic cables can transmit signals over long distances because they incorporate periodically spaced lengths of erbium doped fiber that function as laser amplifiers Cerium oxide is used as a polishing agent for glass. Virtually all polished glass products, from ordinary mirrors and eyeglasses to precision lenses, are finished with CeO2 Gadolinium is used in solid-state lasers, computer memory chips, high-temperature refractories, cryogenic refrigerants Used in improving high-temperature characteristics of iron, chromium, and related alloys Y, La, Ce, Eu, Gd, and Tb are used in the new energy-efficient fluorescent lamps.

These energy-efficient light bulbs are 70% cooler in terms of the heat they generate and are 70% more efficient in their use of electricity REEs are used in metallurgy as an alloying agent to desulphurise steels, as a nodularising agent in ductile iron, as lighter flints and as alloying agents to improve the properties of superalloys and alloys of magnesium, aluminium and titanium Rare-earth elements are used in the nuclear industry in control rods, as dilutants, and in shielding, detectors and counters Rare metals lower the friction on power lines, thus cutting electricity leakage China China mines REEs from bastnäsite ore in the provinces of Gansu and Sichuan. In Inner Mongolia REEs are obtained as a by-product from iron making. HREE extraction, based on ion absorption clays, occurs in the states of Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi and Jiangsu. These clays have very low cerium content and as a consequence the other REES, in particular the HREEs, comprise a much larger share of the ore than is typically found elsewhere. Currently Chinese ion absorption ore is the main source for HREE and resources are not published.

There may be the possibility of discovering new ion absorption deposits in Southeast Asia, however high costs for labor, lack of infrastructure and environmental restrictions may render these new deposits uneconomical when competing in the market place with Chinese output. China has 36 to 53 percent of the world’s REE deposits (industry figures differ) and supplies 97 percent (this number is constant) of the global demand for rare earth elements. The low cost and unregulated production from China’s large deposits forced the closure of almost every rare earth mine outside of China. Tighter limits on production and lowered export quotas are being put in place to ensure China has the necessary supply for its own technological and economic needs - in 2006 volume dropped to 48,000 tonnes. In 2007 volume dropped to 43,574 tonnes, in 2008 volume dropped to 40,987 tonnes and in 2009 to 33,300 tonnes. In 2010 China dropped its annual REE export quota by 37% and then announced an additional 35% drop in its H1 2011 export quota.

In a hunt to secure jobs, and access to advanced technologies, the Chinese have forced manufacturers needing access to REEs to make their products in China. These manufacturers must either cut back production or build their factories/products in China - recently major producers of the magnet material Neodymium-Iron-Boron have transferred their operations to China. Demand for Rare Earths is forecasted to grow at 8-11% per year between 2011 and 2014. Many experts are predicting that the Chinese, and those end users who moved to China for security of supply, will be internally consuming most of the countries rare earth production by about 2014. Forecast demand, source: IMCOA presentation Rare earth demand is driven by several global macroeconomic trends: Miniaturization Environmental protection Increasing demand for energy, power and fuel efficiency The highest demand growth is expected for magnets and metal alloys - hybrid and electric vehicles along with wind turbines (also High Speed Rail ) will compete for the essential materials and there are no substitutions for the REEs used in these applications. An increased use of energy efficient fluorescent lights and growing demand for LCDs, PDPs will increase the use of phosphors.

The French Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières rates high tech metals as critical, or not, based on three criteria: Possibility (or not) of substitution Irreplaceable functionality Potential supply risks It’s very obvious REEs are critical metals and that the west is going to need a secure, long term supply of Rare Earth Elements completely independent of Chinese control. There are a lot of junior companies in this space competing for investor attention. Wilderness of mirrors “Wilderness of Mirrors” is a phrase coined by the 1950s era counter-intelligence chief John Foster Dulles to describe the intelligence game. In particular, the phrase refers to the difficulty of separating disinformation from truth.

One of the world’s foremost REE geologists and mineralogists Anthony “Tony” Marianno says each REE deposit, assuming a favorable political climate and good logistics, will need certain conditions present: Favorable mineralogy and lanthanide distribution Necessary grade and tonnage Mining and mineral processing at low costs Successful chemical cracking of the individual lanthanides for their isolation and eventual recovery Low values of thorium, uranium and other deleterious impurities Minimum environmental impact Dudley Kingsnorth of Industrial Minerals Company of Australia (IMCOA) outlines the necessary steps to take a REE deposit all the way to production: Prove resource: grade, distribution and understand mineralogy Define process and bench scale - each ore-body is unique. Because of this uniqueness a new separation process has to be developed for each individual deposit Conduct pre-feasibility study Demonstrate technical and commercial viability of the process Obtain environmental approval *Publish Letters of Intent – marketing is customer specific.

The main value added from Rare Earths is not in the mining and extraction, so it is necessary to either develop your own supply chain or gain access to an existing supply chain Complete a bankable feasibility study Effect construction and start-up There are significant barriers to entry into the Rare Earths market: Developing a rare earth mine and processing plant is capital intensive. Capacity costs are high - plus US$30,000 per tonne of annual separated capacity versus less than US$3500.00 for an open pit mine in the US. History shows that the development time can be very long at 10-15 years Operational expertise is very limited outside of China - limited technical expertise on mining, cracking and separating Major mining companies, and institutions, are put off by investments in such a tightly focused market - this leaves juniors with potential development issues REE Minerals There’s a saying regarding the search for economic quantities of rare earths: “You are not looking for a REE deposit, you are looking for a Bastnaesite deposit.” anon Practically all light REE are extracted from bastnaesite and monazite, while the heavy REE comes from xenotime and ionic clays.

The process of extracting REE from these four minerals has not changed over the last two decades. When you review these four minerals chemical compositions you will see they are not complex. The more complex, the harder it is to extract what you want and get the ultra high purity oxides, metals, alloys and powders required. Mineralogy is mineral composition, metallurgy the process of extraction. Complicated mineralogy can mean complex, expensive, power intensive, time consuming metallurgy. Bastnaesite: REE CO3F, LREE dominant. Monazite: REE PO4, LREE dominant. South China Clays: Ion-adsorbed REE+Y in Clays Xenotime: Y,HREE PO4, HREE dominant, one of the best sources for Y and HREE. Usually found in small quantities associated with monazite. Ancylite: (Ce) SrREE(CO3)2(OH)·H2O, LREE dominant.

Eudialyte: Na15Ca6(Fe2+,Mn2+)3Zr3(Si,Nb)(Si25,O73)(O,OH,H2O)3(CL,OH)2, HREE dominant, name derived from the Greek phrase Εὖ διάλυτος eu dialytos - "well decomposable" alluding to its ready solubility in acid. Colloidal silica makes it difficult to isolate the REEs but Eudialyte ores are among the most promising sources of rare earth mineral raw material. Britholite: (REE,Y,Ca)5(SiO4,PO4)3(OH,F), a phosphate so should be able to crack it. Allanite: (Ce) (Ce,Ca,Y)2(Al,Fe2+,Fe3+)3(SiO4)3(OH), LREE dominant but with low quantities of REE+Y compared to bastnasite. Refractory in nature. Zircon: ZrSiO4, Zircon is often the major heavy mineral in beach sands and river placers. It is also a byproduct of Sn, Ti and Au mining.

Strong refractory nature and resistance to chemical dissolution. Zircon is the main raw material needed for value-added zirconium chemicals production. Loparite (Ce) (REE,Na,Ca) (Ti, Nb,Ta)O3 Alkaline igneous massif Uraninite: REE and Y - Released as dissolved elements in rafinates from uraninite Fergusonite is a mineral comprising a complex oxide of various rare earth elements. Fergusonite occurs in many geologic environments and has attractive chemistry. Unfortunately it isn’t found in exploitable quantities. Mines to Magnet Mining REEs is fairly straightforward but separating and extracting a single REE takes a great deal of time, effort and expertise. Rare Earth Ore: the ore is ground up using crushers and rotating grinding mills, magnetic separation (bastnaesite and monazite – are highly magnetic, they can be separated from non-magnetic impurities in the ore through repeated electromagnetic separation) and floatation gives you the lowest value sellable product in the Rare Earth supply chain - the concentrated ore.

The milling equipment; crushers, grinding mills, flotation devices, and magnetic, gravity, and electrostatic separators all have to be configured in a way that suits the type of ore being mined - no two ores respond the same way. Concentrated ore: chemically extract the mixed rare earths from the concentrated ore (cons) by chemical processing. The cons have to undergo chemical treatment to allow further separation and upgrading of the REEs. This process – called cracking – includes techniques like roasting, salt or caustic fusion, high temperature sulphidation, and acid leaching which allow the REEs within a concentrate to be dissolved. This separates the mixed rare earths from any other metals that may be present in the ore. The result will be still mixed together rare earths. Rare Earth Oxide (REO): the major value in REE processing lies in the production of high purity REOs and metals - but it isn’t easy. A REE refinery uses ion exchange and/or multi-stage solvent extraction technology to separate and purify the REEs. Solvent-extraction processes involve re-immersing processed ore into different chemical solutions in order to separate individual elements.

The elements are so close to each other in terms of atomic weight that each of these processes involve multiple stages to complete the separation process. In some cases it requires several hundred tanks of different solutions to separate one rare earth element - HREEs are the hardest, most time consuming to separate. The composition of REOs can also vary greatly - they can and often are designed to meet the specifications laid out by the end product users - a REO that suits one manufacturers needs may not suit another’s. In this authors opinion a few junior REE miners will be able to produce oxides but the product will not be more than 98% pure and command, as of April 11th 2011, US$38kg. The cost to increase the purity to the 99.999% required by most end users - and the technical knowhow and operational expertise - will be beyond the capabilities of almost every junior miner. The 98% oxide will still have to be sent for further refining.

Very few REE miners will ever get paid for producing a 98% oxide (Molycorp does, their average price for a kilogram of oxide product in the first quarter of 2011 was US$38) let alone a 99.999% pure oxide (average LREE oxide price US$197kg June 11th) – it seems very likely that most REE juniors will end up selling a mixed rare earth solution - a concentrate comparable (place in the supply chain) to what a junior copper miner would sell. Others further up the REE value added supply chain will turn the concentrate into high purity rare earth oxides and continue the process of making the high purity metals, alloys and powders. Demand is growing for rare earth metals. A common technique for producing metals from REOs is metallothermic reduction. The oxides are dispersed in a molten, calcium chloride bath along with sodium metal. The sodium reacts with the calcium chloride to produce calcium metal, which reduces the oxides to rare earth metals.

Sorption is a combination of the two processes – absorption, in which a substance diffuses into a liquid or solid to form a solution, and adsorption, in which a gas or liquid accumulates on the surface of another substance to form a molecular or atomic film. Other extraction technologies include; vacuum distillation, mercury amalgamate oxidation-reduction, high-performance centrifugal partition chromatoagraphy and Sl-octyl phenyloxy acetic acid treatment. The continuing miniaturization of electronic devices - such as disk drives and micro motors – is possible because of the ability of rare earth magnets to combine high magnetic strength with a small size and weight. Magnetic powders are produced by processing specific combinations of elements that result in distinct magnetic and physical characteristics. These powders are the primary material used in the manufacture of rare earth permanent magnets. The main elements consumed in the manufacture of Neo and samarium-cobalt permanent magnets are; neodymium, samarium, some dysprosium and praseodymium. Neodymium is alloyed with iron and boron as well as other elements (like cobalt).

In order to produce neo powder for the manufacture of bonded (highly shapeable) Neo magnets, the alloy is melted and then rapidly solidified to produce Neo powders with the desired characteristics. The flow of electrical signals on every printed wiring board used in electronic devices is regulated and controlled by the use of dielectric chips known as multi layer ceramic capacitors ("MLCC's"). Many use rare earth formulas containing lanthanum and neodymium of high purity and with precisely engineered physical properties. All the above complex metallurgical technologies have taken decades to evolve, the methods of manufacture and compositions of metals, alloys and powders used are all proprietary methods developed over years of trial and error - they are not common knowledge, exactly the opposite, they are tightly held secrets that very few know. Lack of access to proprietary information about complex physical and chemical processes will severely restrict companies from climbing the value added chain. This author believes no junior REE miners will be able to produce a rare earth permanent magnet - or the high purity metals, alloys and powders used in manufacturing high tech devices. What to Watch For When I evaluate a REE junior’s project I want to see one mineral hosting as much of the REE as possible, not three or more.

I want that mineralization large grained and non-interlocking and I want road, rail and access to the power grid close. Each deposit will have its own unique mineralogy - this has to be determined. A company has to concentrate its recovery efforts on the REE’s - whether LREE or HREE - that are going to be easy to recover in an inexpensive uncomplicated circuit, they have to work with what nature has given them in order to be competitive in the market. Watch for how many different types of minerals the REE are hosted in. Work index When we talk about a grinding or crushing circuit the terms Bond Equation and Work Index come into play. The term Bond Equation measures work done or work that has to be done while the Work Index is defined as the power consumption necessary to accomplish the work. If REE host minerals have large distinct grains (the larger the grain the easier the extraction of REE) and very little intergrowth (there’s always some) the REE is easy to extract and there is very little crushing involved. The amount of work needed to be done, the Bond Equation, and the amount of power needed, the Work Index, is very low.

Some deposits host mineralization whose grain size is measured in millimeters, low Bond Equation = low Work Index = lower power consumption. Therefore electrical power and other associated costs (maintenance and replacement) are low – power consumption costs for grinding and crushing are major costs for miners, especially deposits far off the grid requiring diesel to generate electricity. If mineralization is smaller grained and interlocked it is very hard to extract the REE. In this scenario the Bond Equation is very high because of all the work necessary - some deposits ore has to be crushed down to the micron level (dust) for REE extraction. The Work Index, the power required to grind and crush to so fine a product is immense. An extremely high Work Index to prepare ore can make or break a deposits economics, especially when poor infrastructure is considered – no rail or road for transport, no access to the power grid and a high Work Index are all potential deposit killers when it comes to competing in the market place. Silica (Si) does not dissolve in acid easily and being sand is very hard on grinding and crushing equipment. Silica will actually wear on ball mills and that adds contaminants.

Company metallurgical reports can show up to 98% average recovery rates for all REES listed in their assay tables - but this is lab testing, crushed to dust, roasted and acid leached for hours times three - we could get that kind of recovery from the asphalt out in front of my house if it had any REE in it. In 2010 SRK Consulting studied 18 years of annual performance data and six months of operational data between 2001 and 2002 (after implementation of improvements) from Molycorps existing mill. The average recovery rate was 63%. SRK suggested that a mill recovery of 70% is possible when the mill is operated on a sustained basis and with further improvements. We’re told the value of the ore is based on - converting the individual REE percentages to oxide, times the current selling price per kilogram, add them all together. The problem is the company will never get paid 98% oxide prices for all those different REEs – let alone get paid for a 99.999% pure oxide which is the price many are using.

Does a company have high levels of uranium or low levels of thorium in it’s deposit? If you’ve got thorium where does it report to? If its recovered as thorite you can extract and deal with it separately - it doesn’t have to go into a tailings pond. Look very closely at the drill tables companies publish on their websites. Ratios of thorium versus REEs usually remain constant - if you see a spike in thorium levels you will almost always see a spike in REE levels. If there’s a spike in thorium without a spike in REEs then your thorium might be recovered as thorite. How radioactive is the concentrated ore and waste? Will the company be classified as mining radioactive material if it gets that far? Over a certain rad count in British Columbia – in many other places as well – and you start playing in a whole different ballpark as far as mining and the environment are concerned. Three Hour Tour A few analyst reports have been published that say the REE market will be saturated within a few years because of a huge increase in production expected from new mines coming on stream.

As of yet none of these mines are on stream - some have been going into production next year for the last several years – and are today still raising money for “production”, still haven’t done a preliminary economic study (PEA), a pre-feasibility or feasibility studies, have no economic reserves, have no permits and have published no realistic estimates of mining costs or even a metallurgical report. Source IMCOA Many of the deposits being counted on for near and mid-term supply simply don’t, in this authors opinion, have the mineralogy and/or the necessary close by infrastructure to compete in the market. The Future The future for some of our junior company’s REE deposits (the ones with the right mineralogy and that are of sufficient tonnage) will be end users securing off take agreements or buying a company’s REE deposit outright to have security of supply . Spending 200 or more million dollars for outright ownership of a deposit, or doing a strategic financing to get the deposit into production for an off take agreement is very little money upfront to take so much security of supply risk off the table for a major high tech manufacturing company or a value added rare earths producer. Conclusion The opportunities in the junior REE sector are significant.

But the junior population is quite large - there are literally hundreds of stocks to choose from that want your dollars. There is a steep learning curve and there are serious risks – great rewards come hand in hand with great risk. You must be prepared to do your own due diligence and uncover the opportunities. You must be able to evaluate these opportunities, pay regular attention to your portfolio, manage the risk and take responsibility for your own decisions. Fish, in their album “Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors” sang: I keep a vigil in a wilderness of mirrors Where nothing here is ever what it seems Is the REE junior resource sector, with its immense opportunity, on your radar screen? If not, maybe it should be. If you're interested in learning more about the junior resource, bio-tech and technology sectors please come and visit us at Site membership, and our AOTH newsletter, are free. No credit card or personal information is asked for. *** Richard is host of Aheadoftheherd.com and invests in the junior resource sector.

His articles have been published on over 300 websites, including: Wall Street Journal, SafeHaven, Market Oracle, USAToday, National Post, Stockhouse, Lewrockwell, Uranium Miner, Casey Research, 24hgold, Vancouver Sun, SilverBearCafe, Infomine, Huffington Post, Mineweb, 321Gold, Kitco, Gold-Eagle, The Gold/Energy Reports, Calgary Herald, Resource Investor, Mining.com, Forbes, FNArena, Uraniumseek, and Financial Sense. *** Legal Notice / Disclaimer This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified. Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice.

Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this Report. For site advertising rates contact: rick@aheadoftheherd.com Richard Mills owns no shares of any companies mentioned in this report and none are advertisers on his site aheadoftheherd.com

Question: The fifteen elements with atomic numbers 57 to 71, which includes Lanthanum (La), Cerium (Ce), Praseodymium (Pr), Neodymium (Nd), Promethium (Pm), Europium (Eu), Erbium (Er), Thulium (Tm), Ytterbium (Yb) and Lutetium (Lu), are known as what?
Answer: Lanthanoid series