Process development for the recovery of rare earth elements and critical metals from an acid mine leachate

The concentration of rare earth elements together with Sc, Y, and U, as well as rare earth elements fractionation patterns, in the water of an affected acid mine drainage system were investigated. Significant dissolved concentrations of the studied elements were observed in the fluvial sector of this estuary system (Sc ∼ 31 μg L−1, Y ∼ 187 μg L−1, U ∼ 41 μg L−1, Σ rare earth elements ∼621 μg L−1), with pH values below 2.7. In the mixing zone of the estuary, concentrations are lower (Sc ∼ 2.1 μg L−1; Y ∼ 16.7 μg L−1; U ∼ 4.8 μg L−1; Σ rare earth elements ∼65.3 μg L−1) and show a strong longitudinal gradient. The largest rare earth elements removal occurs in the medium-chlorinity zone and it becomes extreme for heavy rare earth elements, as observed for Sc. Samples of the mixing zone show a North American Shale normalized pattern similar to the fluvial zone water, while the samples located in the zone with pH between 6.5 and 7.7 show a depletion of light rare earth elements relative to middle rare earth elements and heavy rare earth elements, similar to that observed in samples of the marine estuary.

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Fundamental Studies on the Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Acid Mine Drainage

10.33915/etd.7909 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Xue Huang

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Acid Mine Drainage ◽

Rare Earth Elements ◽

Mine Drainage ◽

Acid Mine

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Delineation of contamination flows produced by acid mine drainage in a former uranium mining site (Ronneburg, Eastern Thuringia, Germany) by the use of rare earth elements as tracers

Uranium in the Aquatic Environment ◽

10.1007/978-3-642-55668-5_80 ◽

2002 ◽

pp. 685-692

Author(s):

Dirk Merten ◽

Jörn Geletneky ◽

Kathrin Lahl ◽

Georg Büchel

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Acid Mine Drainage ◽

Rare Earth Elements ◽

Mine Drainage ◽

Uranium Mining ◽

Mining Site ◽

Acid Mine

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Precipitation of rare earth elements from acid mine drainage by CO2 mineralization process

Chemical Engineering Journal ◽

10.1016/j.cej.2020.125716 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 399 ◽

pp. 125716 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Behzad Vaziri Hassas ◽

Mohammad Rezaee ◽

Sarma V. Pisupati

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Acid Mine Drainage ◽

Rare Earth Elements ◽

Mine Drainage ◽

Mineralization Process ◽

Acid Mine ◽

Co2 Mineralization

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Material efficiency: rare and critical metals

Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences ◽

10.1098/rsta.2011.0563 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 371 (1986) ◽

pp. 20110563 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Robert U. Ayres ◽

Laura Talens Peiró

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Rare Earth Elements ◽

Platinum Group Metals ◽

Rare Metals ◽

Critical Metals ◽

The Past ◽

Material Efficiency ◽

Aluminium Copper ◽

Copper Zinc ◽

Industrial Metals

In the last few decades, progress in electronics, especially, has resulted in important new uses for a number of geologically rare metals, some of which were mere curiosities in the past. Most of them are not mined for their own sake (gold, the platinum group metals and the rare Earth elements are exceptions) but are found mainly in the ores of the major industrial metals, such as aluminium, copper, zinc and nickel. We call these major metals ‘attractors’ and the rare accompanying metals ‘hitch-hikers’. The key implication is that rising prices do not necessarily call forth greater output because that would normally require greater output of the attractor metal. We trace the geological relationships and the functional uses of these metals. Some of these metals appear to be irreplaceable in the sense that there are no known substitutes for them in their current functional uses. Recycling is going to be increasingly important, notwithstanding a number of barriers.

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