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43 Rare
Earths
he rare earth group contains 17 elements,
namely, seandium (Se), yttrium(Y) and
lanthanides (15 elements in the periodic table with
atomic numbers from 57 to 71, namely, lanthanum
(La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium
(Na), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium
(Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium
(Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm),
ytterbium (Yb) and lutetium (Lu). Although, they
tend to occur together, the 15 lanthanide elements
are divided into two groups - light & heavy
elements. The light elements are those with atomic
numbers from 57 to 63 (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm and
Eu) and the heavy elements are those with atomic
numbers from 64 10 71 (Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb
and Lu). Generally the light rare earth elements
are more common and more easily extracted than
the heavies. In spite of its low atomic weight
yttrium has properties more similar to the heavy
lanthanides and is included in this group
Scandium, besides its occurrence with other rare
carth elements is also found in a number of
minerals.
Rare earth elements (REE) are characterised
by high density, high melting point, high
conductivity and high thermal conductance, Most
of the rare earth minerals contain thorium and
uranium in variable amounts. However, thorium
and uranium do not constitute essential
components in the composition of the minerals.
The principal sources of rare earth elements
are bastnaesite (a fluorocarbonate which occurs
in carbonatites and related igneous rocks),
xenotime (yttrium phosphate) commonly found in
mineral sand deposits, loparite which occurs in
alkaline igneous rocks and monazite (a
phosphate). The rare earths occur in many other
minerals and are recoverable as by-products from
phosphate rock and from spent uranium leaching.
In India, monazite is the principal source of rare
carths and thorium,
RESOURCES
The mineral monazite is a prescribed
substance as per the notification under the
Atomic Energy Act, 1962, AMD has been carrying
out its resource evaluation for over six decades.
The concentration of monazite in heavy minerals
like ilmenite, rutile, zireon, ete. is 0.4 4.3% and it
is found in the beach and inland placer deposits
of the country
The resource estimation for the areas
explored by AMD up to 2012 is almost completed.
The resource estimates of monazite in the beach
and inland placer deposits have been enhanced
from 10.70 million tonnes in 2009 to 11.93 million
tonnes in 2012. The statewise resources are given
in Table - 1
Table
Resources of Monazite
(in million tonnes)
State Resources
All India 1193
‘Andhra Pradesh 3.72
Bihar/sharkhand 0.22
Kerala 1,90
Odishs 2a
Tamil Nadu 246
West Bengal 1.22
Gujarat (lonnes) 3300
Source: Depariment of Atomic Energy, Mumba
* Inclusive of indicated, inferred and speculative
categories
EXPLORATION & DEVELOPME}
GSI continued exploration activities for
search of Rare Earths. Details of exploration
activities carried out by GSI are furnished in
Table-2.
