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Journal of Science and Technology in the Tropics 63
Table 1. Rare earth element content and price [5].
Lanthanide
Bastnasite
Mountain
Pass (%)
Monazite
Green Cove
Springs (%)
Price 2007
($/kg)
Cerium 49.3 43.7 50-65
Dysprosium 0.031 0.9 160
Erbium - - 165
Europium 0.11 0.16 1,200
Gadolinium 0.18 6.6 150
Holmium - 0.11 750
Lanthanum 33.2 17.5 40
Lutetium - - 3,500
Neodymium 12 17.5 60
Praseodymium 4.3 5 75
Samarium 0.8 4.9 200-350
Terbium 0.016 0.26 850
Thulium - - 2,500
Ytterbium - 0.21 4500
doctorate holders. A visionary 1992 outlook by China’s late leader Deng XiaoPing
is: “There is oil in the Middle East. There are rare earths in China. We must take
full advantage of this resource.” The program started in 1996 and claimed the
achievement of 1500 unspecified technological breakthroughs.
After the launch of the Super 863 program in 1997, the Chinese Communist
Party adopted the “16-character policy” in reference to the 16 Chinese characters
that describe a four-sentence blueprint for China’s ascendance on the world stage:
“Combine the military with the civil. Combine peace and war. Give priority to
military products. Let the civil support the military.” This signals a possible future
competition for the global rare earth resources as feed materials to a new green
technologies industrial thrust [7].
RARE EARTH RESOURCE AND DISTRIBUTION
Rare earth deposits can be found in many parts of the world. Brazil is reputed
to be the world’s oldest rare earth producer, since 1884. The world distribution
and production are as shown in Tables 2-5 [4]. Global rare earth resource and
product distribution have been changing rapidly since 2009 due to the increasing
importance of these materials and thus the intensive exploration and setting up of
new mines and processing plants to produce more rare earth materials in response