Rare Earth Element Processing
Because rare earth elements have very similar physical and chemical properties, seperating them into usuable fractions is technically challenging. Shown here is the large number of steps used in the late 1990's to refine bastnasite ore at the Mountain Pass mine in California. Each step produces a more refined product, as well as a new waste stream.
This figure is a modification of Figure 2, from the 2010 USGS report "The Principal Rare Earth Elements Deposits of the United States—A Summary of Domestic Deposits and a Global Perspective"