Skip to main content

Difference Between Mineral Sands and Rare Earths



There is some confusion around what is classified as a mineral sand and what is considered a rare earth. Australia has an abundance of both however rare earths is hard to produce and much of the mineral sands reserves are located in national parks and other environmentally sensitive areas not gazetted for mining.

What are mineral sands?

Mineral sands contain concentrations of the important minerals, rutile, ilmenite, zircon and monazite.

In Australia, the three main minerals mined from mineral sands deposits are ilmenite, rutile and zircon. Zircon is used in industrial and chemical applications including the manufacture of ceramics and refractories. Titanium is also used for industry and chemicals but also for making titanium dioxide pigments.

Australia is the largest producer of titanium, rutile and zirconium in the world. Production rates of the minerals depend largely on the increase and decrease of demand often linked to global recession and prosperity.

What are rare earths?

Rare earths are a group of 15 elements including Lanthanum (La), Cerium (Ce), Praseodymium (Pr), Neodymium (Nd), Promethium (Pm), Samarium (Sm), Europium (Eu), Gadolinium (Gd), Terbium (Tb), Dysprosium (Dy), Holmium (Ho), Erbium (Er), Thulium (Tm), Ytterbium (Yb) and Lutetium(Lu). Rare earths are used in metallurgical applications, permanent magnets as well as phosphors for television, lighting, and X-rays.

Australia has one rare earth mine operating near Laverton in Western Australia which makes Australia the fifth largest producer of rare earths.

Mineral processing and material handing: 

If you're eager for more information on mineral processing and material handling, you can contact experts or agencies who will guide you on the same. 
Location: Perth WA, Australia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is a Scrubber and Trommel?

To process precious and base metals, gravel, minerals and sand, most sites will need a scrubber and trommel. When the mineral sand is trapped inside balls due to a high clay content, the material is passed through a rotating screen known as a scrubber. As the scrubber rotates, it breaks up alluvial, clay and sand. A trommel is used to separate the materials. Elevated at an angle a cylindrical drum has the material fed in one end. The under-sized material passes through the screen while the oversized material exits the drum at the other end. A vibrating screen does a similar job to the trommel, however, is not as robust and won’t last as long when working under stress. The vibrating screen can evaluate more material at one time than the trommel. The Right Specs Selecting the right scrubber for your project needs to take into account some considerations. By informing your supplier of the following information, you can ensure that you will receive the ideal scrubber for the job. N
Post a Comment
Read more

Benefits of Modular Turn-Key Plants

Modular turn-key plants have several benefits compared to building a plant on site. We look at a few of the main ones here. 1. Preserve CAPEX Plants built on site require significantly more capital expenditure than a modular plant. The funds saved on a modular plant can be used in other parts of the business. Being modular means the plant can be more easily moved to a new location when required so the asset potentially has a longer life than if it is fixed. 2. Lead Time There is significantly less time needed to get a plant up and running if it can be built off-site. Building work on modular plants can begin as soon as the design is finalised where as on-site takes time to gain building approvals. The other local authority approvals can be finalised while construction is underway. By the time everything is in place, the building is ready for transport. Testing can also be completed off-site so once the plant has been fitted on-site, the time needed to get to full pr
Post a Comment
Read more