Rare Earth Elements: A Review of Production, Processing ...

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Acknowledgements David J. Reisman (retired), Director of the Office of Research and Development (ORD), Engineering Technical Support Center (ETSC) and Robert J. Weber of the EPA ORD, Office of Science Policy (OSP) served as co-principal investigators on this project. They would like to acknowledge the exemplary contribution from the RTI International team led by Coleen Northeim and consisting of Scott Guthrie, James Cunningham, and Susan Wolf. Without their assistance this document probably would not have been developed. The draft and final versions of this document were prepared under the ORD STREAMS contract (EP-C-05-060), Task 35. Throughout the development of the document, monthly teleconference calls took place among members of the REE work group and was comprised of the following individuals who gratefully gave their time and expertise voluntarily. Dr. Michael McKittrick of ORD National Center for Environmental Research (NCER), Dr. Robert Seal of the U.S. Geological Survey, Dr. David Drake of EPA Region 7, and Kathleen Graham of ORD/OSP in EPA Region 8 played a key role in developing this issue over less than a year. Additionally, special thanks go out to Jim Sims and Scott Honan of MolyCorp, Inc. for providing input on their current REE mining and resource recovery processes. We would also like to acknowledge the reviews and constructive comments provided by Karen Pollard and William Schoenborn of the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Dr. Anne Riederer of the ORD Assistant Administrator’s office, Diana Bless (ORD), and Holly Elwood of the Office of Pesticide Programs and Toxic Substances. Finally, we would also like to thank our current (and former) immediate management, Albert Venosa and Randy Parker in EPA ORD/NRMRL, Maggie LaVay of EPA ORD/OSP, Nigel Fields, formerly of EPA ORD/OSP (now with DOI/NPS), and Gene Gunn and Dr. David Drake in EPA Region 7, for their support of our work. vi
Table of Contents List of Acronyms ......................................................................................................................................... xi 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1-1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................................... 1-1 1.2 Report Organization ................................................................................................................. 1-1 2. Introduction to Rare Earth Elements ................................................................................................... 2-1 2.1 Abundance of REEs in Earth’s Crust ....................................................................................... 2-1 2.2 Geologic Environments of REEs .............................................................................................. 2-3 2.3 Applications of REEs ............................................................................................................... 2-6 2.4 REE Global Economic Supply and Demand ............................................................................ 2-7 3. Life-Cycle Stages of Rare Earth Mineral Mines ................................................................................. 3-1 3.1 Active REE Mining .................................................................................................................. 3-2 3.2 REE Ores .................................................................................................................................. 3-3 3.3 Mining Permitting and Life-Cycle ........................................................................................... 3-4 3.3.1 Permitting Requirements for New Rare Earth Mines ................................................ 3-4 3.3.2 Mining Life Cycle ..................................................................................................... 3-5 3.4 Characteristics of Mining Waste Sources ............................................................................... 3-19 3.4.1 Soil Storage Piles .................................................................................................... 3-20 3.4.2 Overburden .............................................................................................................. 3-20 3.4.3 Ore and Subeconomic Ore Storage ......................................................................... 3-20 3.4.4 Waste Rock ............................................................................................................. 3-21 4. Resource Processing ............................................................................................................................ 4-1 4.1 Bevill Amendment .................................................................................................................... 4-4 4.2 Beneficiation Processes ............................................................................................................ 4-4 4.2.1 Bastnasite Beneficiation ............................................................................................ 4-5 4.2.2 Monazite/Xenotime Beneficiation............................................................................. 4-5 4.3 Extraction Processes ................................................................................................................. 4-5 4.3.1 Bastnasite Extraction ................................................................................................. 4-6 4.3.2 Monazite/Xenotime Extraction ................................................................................. 4-7 4.3.3 Tailings Extraction .......................................................................................................... 4-7 4.4 Reduction Processes ................................................................................................................. 4-7 4.5 Potential Environmental Impacts .............................................................................................. 4-7 4.5.1 China Legacy ............................................................................................................. 4-8 4.5.2 United States Legacy ................................................................................................. 4-8 5. Rare Earth Element Recovery/Alternative Material Use .................................................................... 5-1 5.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 5-1 5.2 Recycle Processing Steps ......................................................................................................... 5-3 5.2.1 Collection .................................................................................................................. 5-5 5.2.2 Dismantling/Preprocessing ........................................................................................ 5-5 5.2.3 Processing .................................................................................................................. 5-7 5.3 Commercial REE-Recycling Applications ............................................................................... 5-8 5.4 Environmental Implications of Recycling REEs .................................................................... 5-10 5.5 Research on Alternatives to REEs .......................................................................................... 5-10 5.6 Emerging Policies/Programs to Support REE Recycling ....................................................... 5-11 vii
Page 1 and 2: EPA 600/R-12/572 | December 2012 |
Page 3 and 4: Foreword The U.S. Environmental Pro
Page 5: Abstract Rare earth elements (REEs)
Page 9 and 10: List of Tables 2-1. Abundance of El
Page 11 and 12: Rare Earth Elements Review List of
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