Rare Earths Recovery from Secondary Resources: Opportunities, Challenges and Environmental impacts
Rare earths are not as rare as the name suggests, they are relatively abundant in the earth`s crust,
but their concentration is less in ore deposits, in particular heavy rare earths. Commercially,
REEs are extracted from the bastnasite, monazite and xenotime ores. The extraction of REEs
from mineral ore (primary source) is a complicated multi step process with a huge amount of
toxic wa ste released during the processes. The recovery of REEs from secondary sources such
Rare Earths and Energy Critical Elements: A Roadmap and Strategy for India
An initiative was taken by Ministry of Mines to review the status of the availability of rare earths and energy-critical elements with regard to their status in exploration, extraction and processing technologies along with CSTEP. This report reviews India’s production, consumption and reserves, and also suggests policy initiatives and interventions required from the government for the growth of this sector.