China’s rare earth matters to the world. Ganzhou which enjoy the fame as “the kingdom of rare earth”, has developed into the distributing and producing center for rare earth raw material and smelt process from a mere resource base in recent years, making Ganzhou rare earth industry  a one-stop industrial pattern. Yan Chunhua, a NPC delegate and the dean of National Key Lab has been in the research of rare earth for 30 year.

Yan suggested that laboratory of Key Universities and relevant department of Ganzhou should work together in constructing a National-class research center, and further accelerate innovation and enhance the added value of the products meanwhile he recommend to form a reserve system for rare earth resources. “rare earth is of strategic meaning to our country, our country should exploit rare earth resources rationally and buy then back at a reasonable price.

Yan confess that although our country is an important rare earth exporting country, we are still lag behind in high-end technology, our voice in the international market is pretty weak actually, the situation could undermine our national interests. “I propose to build a rare earth futures transaction platform in Ganzhou, that will be of great help in strengthening the price-setting power of our country.”

Tungsten Manufacturer & Supplier: Chinatungsten Online - http://www.chinatungsten.com
Tel.: 86 592 5129696; Fax: 86 592 5129797
Email: sales@chinatungsten.com
Tungsten News & Tungsten Prices, 3G Version: http://3g.chinatungsten.com
Tungsten News & Tungsten Prices, WML Version: http://m.chinatungsten.com

It is reported that ANSTO Minerals has completed preparation of feed material for the Ngualla solvent extraction (SX) Pilot Plan. The work was achieved using the simple sulphuric acid leach recovery process to treat a 1.3 tonne bulk sample of Ngualla rare earth mineralisation, which further verifies the robustness of the process flow sheet.

The ability to produce separated high purity products adds significant value to the project and allows access to wider markets for Ngualla’s products.

Highlights are as followed:
An average 83% recovery of rare earths in the acid leach stage was achieved from the bulk sample.
The work independently verifies the ‘Proof of Concept’ simple acid leach recovery flowsheet at a larger scale using a bulk composite of weathered Bastnaesite Zone rare earth mineralisation from Ngualla.
The rare earth chloride feed solution produced is exceptionally pure with thorium and uranium levels below detection limits.
An optimisation program on the acid leach and purification flowsheet is expected to improve process efficiencies further and Peak has commissioned ANSTO to complete this work.
The SX Pilot Plant remains on track to deliver four separated >99% purity rare earth oxide (REO) products successively over the next few months with the final product delivered by mid-2013.
In addition to providing product samples and specifications for assessment by potential off take customers, the work will provide detailed engineering data for the design of the full scale SX plant for inclusion in the Pre-Feasibility Study currently in progress.
The SX Pilot Plant work will confirm the end to end process of Ngualla mineralisation to high value products, demonstrating the de-risking of the project, and is a major step toward achieving production in early 2016.

Peak Managing Director Richard Beazley said “The independent verification of the Ngualla process flowsheet by ANSTO Minerals further demonstrates that Peak has a robust and reliable metallurgical treatment process that works for the weathered Bastnaesite mineralisation at Ngualla. Completion of the SX Pilot Plant work will place Peak amongst a very select few companies to have successfully produced high quality purified rare earth products.”


Rare Earth Manufacturer & Supplier: Chinatungsten Online - http://www.chinatungsten.com
Tel.: 86 592 5129696; Fax: 86 592 5129797
Email: sales@chinatungsten.com
Tungsten News & Tungsten Prices, 3G Version: http://3g.chinatungsten.com
Tungsten News & Tungsten Prices, WML Version: http://m.chinatungsten.com

On March 11th, Jiangsu Rare Earth Committee released publicly the operating data for provincial enterprices dealing with smelting operation  in January. In Which the total output and sales volume is 602.73 ton and 695.38 ton respectively, rising 29.88% and 36.98% compared with that of last year. export volume increase by 22.42% to 124.13ton on a year-on-year bases. With regard to output value and revenue, however, these enterprices has greatly droped in the two indices. the revenue in January is $28.61577 m, fell by 48.54% compared with last year, export value is $3.7104 m, declined 87.19%. Profit of these enterprises fell at a dramastic rate at 177.49%, the profit margin was $3.24789m.

Rare earth metals (REM) and rare earth elements (REE) are the collection of 17 earth elements in the periodic table, namely scandium, yttrium, and 15 lanthanides. Because of their unique magnetic, fluorescent and chemical properties, REM and REE are key materials used in science innovation.

Major rare earth applications are used in hybrid vehicles. For example the Toyota Prius,  contains 30 kg (65 lb) of REE. Rare earth elements are used in motors, metal hydride batteries, glass, autocatalysts, and electronics.

There are 15 accepted rare earth elements known as the lanthanides with atomic numbers 57 to 71 and are listed as follows: lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium.

                  

Promethium is a synthetic element which does not occur naturally is not generally included as a commodty. Yttrium is considered a rare earth since it tends to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibits similar chemical properties.

It has been the practice to report rare elements as a percentage oxide. The elements are initially reported from the lab in parts per million. The elements are converted to oxides with the following molecular formulas, La₂O₃, _Ce2O₃, Pr₂O₃, Nd₂O₃, Sm₂O₃, Eu₂O₃, Gd₂O₃, Tb₂O₃, Dy₂O₃, Ho₂O₃, Er₂O₃, Tm₂O₃, Yb₂O₃, Lu₂O₃, and Y2O3. Rare earth oxides are reported as total rare earth oxides (TREO) which is a simple addition of the percentages of the above 15 components.

Rare earth oxides are further classified as light rare earth oxides (LREO) which includes La₂O₃, _Ce2O₃, Pr₂O₃, Nd₂O₃ and Sm₂O₃, and heavy rare oxides (HREO) which includes Eu₂O₃, Gd₂O₃, Tb₂O₃, Dy₂O₃, Ho₂O₃, Er₂O₃, Tm₂O₃, Yb₂O₃, Lu₂O₃, and Y2O3.

As a rough measure of the value of an assay, heavy rare earth elements (HREO) are reported as a percentage of total rare earth oxides (TREO). In the coming years heavy rare earth elements will be more sought after since China, the world’s leading producer of rare earths, has indicated it will be curtailing exports in order to meet and secure their domestic needs. The short fall in production from other countries in the world will lead to an upward pressure on commodity prices.


Rare Earth Manufacturer & Supplier: Chinatungsten Online - http://www.chinatungsten.com
Tel.: 86 592 5129696; Fax: 86 592 5129797
Email: sales@chinatungsten.com
Tungsten News & Tungsten Prices, 3G Version: http://3g.chinatungsten.com
Tungsten News & Tungsten Prices, WML Version: http://m.chinatungsten.com