DEPOSITS OF THE RARE EARTHS ELEMENTS (REE)

We know more than 681 deposits of REE in 79 countries to date.
The 450 occurrence this primary deposits of REE.

Distribution of deposits by continent:Asia - 32%
America - 23% (North America - 16%)
Europe - 17%
Africa - 16%
Australia - 12%

The greatest number of REE primary  deposits by country:
USA - 54 (of 80 deposits)
China - 19 (of 34 deposits)
Brazil - 16 (of 37 deposits)
Australia - 9 (of 75 deposits)

Countries that have 9-15 REE deposits:
Asia - Sri Lanka, Vietnam, India, Myanmar (these countries have mainly alluvial deposits), Saudi Arabia
Africa - Mozambique, South Africa, Angola, Madagascar, Namibia
Europe - France, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway
North America - Canada, Greenland (Denmark)

Countries that have all types of REE deposits (primary deposits, alluvial and fluvial placers:

• USA
• China
• Brazil

DEPOSITS OF THE RARE EARTHS ELEMENTS:

• Africa
• Asia
• Australia and Oceania
• Europe
• North America
• South America

 Not each  REE occurrence  can be considered as REE deposit!

 Express evaluation of technological feasibility of mineral extraction from the ore deposit for new sites
 

© Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya
July 25, 2016

nataliapetrovsky@gmail.com

Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya: Top 10 posts in May

1. CLASSIFICATION OF FLOTATION MACHINES The author of classification is Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya  (1 in the overall ranking. The post is 3 months in the overall rating)

2. Map of the placer deposits of ores containing REE (alluvial deposits)

 
3. FUNDAMENTALS OF THE THEORY OF FLOTATION By Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya  (3 in the overall ranking. The post is 5 months in the overall rating)

4. Terbium is the most expensive rare earth metal (REE)

5. THE RATE OF RISE OF THE BUBBLE

6. The flotation of iron minerals. How manufacturers of the reagents can convince the Plant to buy and to use the starch?

7. Phosphate minerals

8. Rhodium is the most expensive metal

9. Native element minerals

10.  CINEMA and MINING (2 in the overall ranking)

Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya

Map of the Indigenous ore vein deposits containing REE

SIGNIFICANT LOCALITIES FOR REE MINERALS:
USA 54
Norway 25
China 19

Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya

Map of the deposits containing scandium minerals

SIGNIFICANT LOCALITIES FOR SCANDIUM MINERALS:
Norway 25
Italy 18
USA 14
Germany 13
Madagascar 8
Austria 8

Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya

Map of the placer deposits of ores containing REE (alluvial deposits)

 SIGNIFICANT LOCALITIES FOR REE MINERALS (placer deposits):
Australia 68
USA 26
Brazil 21
China 15
Vietnam 13
Sri Lanka 12
India 11
 
Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya

THE RATE OF RISE OF THE BUBBLE

The bubbles rise slower if we add some foamer. For example, the bubble with diameter 0.9mm rises (without a foamer) with 0.20 m/s, and 0.11 m/s with a foamer.

FUNDAMENTALS OF THE THEORY OF FLOTATION By Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya

Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya

Terbium is the most expensive rare earth metal (REE)

Class: Non-Ferrous Metals
Group: Rare Metals 
Subgroup: Rare Earth Metals, Heavy rare earth elements (HREE)

Metal: Terbium (Tb) 

 More than 35 minerals contain terbium.

 

SELECTION OF METHODS FOR SEPARATING OF TERBIUM MINERALS

During the processing of minerals containing terbium mineral, plants use the following types of separation:

• Gravity separation
• Magnetic separation
• Electrical separation
• Chemical separation
• Flotation
• Special methods of separation

In the world there is a shortage of terbium. 

Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya

Rhodium is the most expensive metal

Class: Non-Ferrous Metals
Group: Noble metals and The Wider definition of refractory metals 
Metal: Rhodium

SELECTION OF METHODS FOR SEPARATING OF RHODIUM MINERALS

During the processing of minerals containing rhodium, plants use the following types of separation:

• Chemical separation

Other methods of separation:

• Flotation
• Special methods of separation

References
CONCENTRATION OF MINERALS

© Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya

The flotation of iron minerals. How manufacturers of the reagents can convince the Plant to buy and to use the starch?

The reverse flotation of iron concentrate flows after the magnetic separation. 

Purpose of reverse flotation: removal the harmful impurities (SiO₂, Al₂O₃) from the iron concentrate.

Consider an example. After magnetic separation, La Planta Magnetita has the obtained iron concentrate with an iron content of 70 %. Also the concentrate comprises 1.87 % of SiO₂ and 0.52 % of Al₂O₃. On the Plant there is a modern equipment, which is perfect for this type of flotation, there are a best expensive reagents. At the reverse flotation, often using traditional reagents: amine, dextrin (starch), frother, CaO. However, the flotation has a problem. 
When adding a starch to the the flotation, the content of SiO₂ in of iron concentrate is 0.8-0.9 %. If carried out flotation without the starch then content of SiO₂ in the iron concentrate is 0.8-0.9 %. 

Obviously, there is no effect from the use of starch. The Plant decides not to buy starch, reducing costs.
 
What happened? Why in both cases the content of SiO₂ in the iron concentrate equally high and much higher than the required? How to help to the Plant to lower content of SiO₂ in the iron concentrate?
 
How manufacturers of the reagents can convince the Plant to buy and to use the starch?
 
In order to obtain the necessary quality of the concentrate, it is necessary to use yet and other reagents.
 
What are these reagents? (When adding the reagent a content of SiO₂ and of Al₂O₃ in the iron concentrate decreases, the consumption of amine decreases.)   

You can visit "THE  STORE  OF  MY  IDEAS  AND  TECHNOLOGICAL  SOLUTIONS"

Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya 

SELECTION OF METHODS FOR SEPARATING OF CARBONATE MINERALS

Anhydrous carbonates

• Calcite group: Trigonal
  • Calcite CaCO₃
  • Gaspeite (Ni,Mg,Fe²⁺)CO₃
  • Magnesite MgCO₃
  • Otavite CdCO₃
  • Rhodochrosite MnCO₃
  • Siderite FeCO₃
  • Smithsonite ZnCO₃
  • Spherocobaltite CoCO₃
• Aragonite group: Orthorhombic
  • Aragonite CaCO₃
  • Cerussite PbCO₃
  • Strontianite SrCO₃
  • Witherite BaCO₃
  • Rutherfordine UO₂CO₃
  • Natrite Na₂CO

Anhydrous carbonates with compound formulas

• Dolomite group: Trigonal
  • Ankerite CaFe(CO₃)₂
  • Dolomite CaMg(CO₃)₂
  • Huntite Mg₃Ca(CO₃)₄
  • Minrecordite CaZn(CO₃)₂
  • Barytocite BaCa(CO₃)₂

Carbonates with hydroxyl or halogen

• Carbonate with hydroxide: Monoclinic
  • Azurite Cu₃(CO₃)₂(OH)₂
  • Hydrocerussite Pb₃(CO₃)₂(OH)₂
  • Malachite Cu₂CO₃(OH)₂
  • Rosasite (Cu,Zn)₂CO₃(OH)₂
  • Phosgenite Pb₂(CO₃)Cl₂
  • Hydrozincite Zn₅(CO₃)₂(OH)₆
  • Aurichalcite (Zn,Cu)₅(CO₃)₂(OH)₆

Hydrated carbonates

• Hydromagnesite Mg₅(CO₃)₄(OH)₂.4H₂O
• Ikaite CaCO₃·6(H₂O)
• Lansfordite MgCO₃·5(H₂O)
• Monohydrocalcite CaCO₃·H₂O
• Natron Na₂CO₃·10(H₂O)
• Zellerite Ca(UO₂)(CO₃)₂·5(H₂O)

The carbonate class in both the Dana and the Strunz classification systems include the nitrate.
During the processing of minerals containing carbonates, plants use the following types of separation:

• Flotation
• Magnetic separation
• Electrical separation
• Chemical separation
• Special methods of separation

Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya

Phosphate minerals

Phosphate minerals are those minerals that contain the tetrahedrally coordinated phosphate (PO43−) anion along with the freely substituting arsenate (AsO43−) and vanadate (VO43−). Chlorine (Cl−), fluorine (F−), and hydroxide (OH−) anions also fit into the crystal structure. The phosphate class of minerals is a large and diverse group, however, only a few species are relatively common. The apatite group: Apatite, Chlorapatite, Fluorapatite, Hydroxylapatite, Hedyphane, Mimetite, Pyromorphite, Vanadinite The Uranyl Phosphates: Autunite, Coconinoite, Dumontite, Meta-ankoleite, Meta-autunite, Meta-torbernite, Meta-uranocircite, Parsonite, Phosphuranylite, Phuralumite, Phurcalite, Renardite, Sabugalite, Saleeite,Torbernite, Uramphite, Uranocircite Mitridatite group: Arseniosiderite-mitridatite series, Arseniosiderite-robertsite series Amblygonite, Andrewsite, Anapaite, Arrojadite, Augelite, Barbosalite, Beraunite, Berlinite, Beryllonite, Beusite,  Bolivarite, Brazilianite, Brushite, Cacoxenite, Cassidyite, Chalcosiderite, Childrenite, Churchite-(Y), Collinsite, Cornetite. Crandallite, Cyrilovite, Diadochite, Dickinsonite, Dufrenite, Embreyite, Englishite, Eosphorite, Evansite, Fairfieldite, Faheyite, Faustite, Fillowite, Florencite, Frondelite, Gorceixite, Gordonite, Gormanite, Goyazite, Graftonite, Griphite, Hagendorfite, Hentschelite, Herderite, Heterosite, Hopeite, Holtedahlite, Hureaulite, Hurlbutite, Jahnsite, Kidwellite, Kulanite, Landesite, Laubmannite ,Laueite, Lazulite, Leucophosphite, Libethenite, Lipscombite, Lithiophilite, ludlamite, Messelite, Meta-variscite, Meta-vauxite, Mitridatite, Monazite, Monetite, Montbrasite, Montgomeryite, Moraesite, Natramblygonite, Natrophilite, Newberyite, Nissonite, Overite, Palermoite, Paraschozite, Paravauxite, Phosphoferrite. Phosphophyllite, Phosphosiderite, Plumbogummite, Pseudomalachite, Pucherite, Purpurite, Reddingite, Rhabdophane, Rockbridgeite, Roscherite, Rosemaryite, Salmonsite, Scholzite, Scorzalite, Sicklerite, Sincosite, Spencerite, Stercorite, Stewartite, Strengite, Strunzite, Struvite, Switzerite, Tarbuttite, Tavorite, Triphylite, Triplite, Triploidite, Trolleite,Tsumebite, Turquoise, Variscite, Vauxite, Veszelyite, Vivianite, Wagnerite, Wardite, Wavellite, Whiteite, Whitlockite, Wolfeite, Xenotime During the processing of minerals containing silicates, plants use the following types of separation: Flotation Magnetic separation Electrical separation Chemical separation Gravity separation Special methods of separation References https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphate_minerals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Phosphate_minerals http://www.galleries.com/Phosphates Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya

What are polymers, biopolymers, natural polymers in flotation?

Many chemical companies try to implement polymers in flotation (natural polymers, biopolymers, etc.). This is a traditional flotation reagents for some ores. However, none of the companies could not provide a method for the use of polymers in the flotation of copper ores. This is due to the properties of polymers. Polymers are the conditioners of pulp. For one and the same mineral under different conditions, the polymer may be a depressant or an activator.         

You can find:
1.1. Which reagents include polymers?                                                           
1.2. What are called as “anionic biopolymers” and why?                                   
1.3. Which minerals can be depressed by polymers very easily, and which minerals can not be depressed?                                                                                                    
1.4. In what sequence the polymers depress the minerals?                                
1.5. Which mechanisms of polymer fixing there are?              

You can visit "THE  STORE  OF  MY  IDEAS  AND  TECHNOLOGICAL  SOLUTIONS"

Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya

Native element minerals

The following elements occur as native element minerals or alloys:

•     Aluminium
•     Antimony
•     Arsenic
•     Bismuth
•     Carbon
•     Cadmium
•     Chromium
•     Copper
•     Gold
•     Indium
•     Iron
•     Iridium
•     Lead
•     Mercury
•     Molybdenum
•     Nickel
•     Osmium
•     Palladium
•     Platinum
•     Rhenium
•     Rhodium
•     Selenium
•     Silver
•     Silicon
•     Sulfur
•     Tantalum
•     Tellurium
•     Tin
•     Titanium
•     Vanadium
•     Zinc

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_element_minerals
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Classification_of_Minerals
3. http://www.galleries.com/minerals/by_class.htm
   

© Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya,

July 8, 2017

nataliapetrovsky@gmail.com

The unique reagent - activator for molybdenite in flotation!

There are reagents, that can activate the flotation of molybdenite. May be this is one unique activator for molybdenite. If you add this activator correctly, the molybdenite will float much better. Gangue minerals will be are depressed. Grade and recovery of molybdenite (and copper) will increase. 

You can visit "THE  STORE  OF  MY  IDEAS  AND  TECHNOLOGICAL  SOLUTIONS"

Ph.D. Natalia Petrovskaya