Expanded production of so-called ‘rare earth’ elements will begin in March or April at Europe’s Silmet separation plant, Energy Fuels has announced.
Such elements are needed for applications such as high-performance magnets used in renewable energy generation and electric vehicles, but there have been concerns over China’s tight control over supply of the materials.
Energy Fuels and its partner Neo Performance Materials say they will produce rare earth products from natural monazite sands, a byproduct of heavy mineral sands mined in the southeastern United States.
The sands have not previously been used as a rare earth source because the earths are mixed with uranium. But Energy Fuels now plans also to extract the uranium for use in nuclear fuel.
After uranium extraction the rare earths source material will be sent to Silmet, the only operational rare earth separations facility in Europe. Silmet has been separating rare earths into commercial value-added products for more than 50 years and it expects to add 840t of total rare earth oxides per year to its current production.
Energy Fuels said it expected to produce producing rare earths and uranium at a relatively low cost and with a smaller environmental footprint than other projects. That is because it will be produced from existing mining, processing, and separation facilities. The company will use its existing mill and Silmet will use its existing separations facility, avoiding the need to license, finance and develop new facilities.
Further reading
‘Rare earths’ not so rare in South African mine site, miner reports
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