CHINA'S RARE EARTH ORE DEPOSITS AND BENEFICIATION TECHNIQUES

Abstract

China possesses the largest resource of rare earth elements (REE) in the world and the reserve of REE in China takes up over 40% of the total global reserve. China has dominated the world REE production since 1980s. Bayan Obo REE‐Nb‐Fe deposit situated in Inner Mongolia is the world’s largest known REE ore deposit with the reserve of 48 Mt REO and the largest REE production resource. Other two major in production REE deposits are Mianning REE deposit in Sichuan and Weishan REE deposit in Shandong. The weathered crust elution –deposited REE ore (ion adsorption REE deposit), as the world unique REE deposit found in China, is currently the second largest REE production resource containing high contents of heavy REE. In the paper, the ore properties of these REE deposits are introduced and the renovation and progress on the beneficiation techniques including flowsheets, flotation and leaching reagents and technological indexes on these ores are discussed.