Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Due to the increasing importance of REE in the global market, a detailed de-
scription of their applications, geochemistry and metallurgy with associated impacts
is carried out in the next sections.
8.13.1 Main uses ofREE
As explained in Chap. 1, the main uses of REE can be found in permanent mag-
nets with a 25%
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of the market share going to vehicles, wind turbines and many
miniature applications such as computers and smart phones. Consumer demand
is mainly focused here on Nd, Sm, Pr, Gd and Dy. This market has a strong
growth rate estimated at 16% for the period 2010-2015. The next mass produced
rare earth application is that of the fluid cracking catalysts with a market share
of 15%, and a steadier growth rate of 6%. In this case, demand is predominantly
focused on La and Ce. Rechargeable batteries currently share a global demand
of 14% but their demand is rising rapidly - by an estimated 18% per year for the
period 2010-2015. Demand for this consumer stream is centred around mischmetal
which is essentially composed of La;Ce;Nd and Pr and combined with transition
metals such as Ni;Co;Mn, and/or others.
Another key use is cerium oxide as a polishing powder. With a current market
share of 14%, an annual growth of 15% was estimated for the period 2010-2015.
Metallurgical usage, meanwhile, currently covers a market share of 9%, with its
main requirements relating to La;Ce;Pr and Nd. Auto-catalytic converters using
La and Ce have a lower market share at 7%, a figure which is expected to increase
annually, in the period 2010-2015, by some 8%. Glass additives in turn have a 6%
market share with demands expected to grow by 4% annually. These additives are
used either with Ce for lowering the reactance of UV light or La in order to increase
the reactive index of camera lenses.
Phosphors are the fastest growing application with a soaring demand of an above
30% annual growth. The rare metals needed in this case are La;Ce;Eu;Gd;Tb
and Y . All of these elements are used extensively in flat TV screens, LCDs and
compact fluorescent lights. LEDs are an energy e
cient technology requiring a
lesser use of rare earths. That said, it is unlikely to have much of an impact on
current consumption patterns due to spiralling global demand.
Considering the limited number of mine openings before 2020 (see Sec. 8.13.2),
it is expected that demand in some REE will exceed supply as is already the case
for neodymium, europium and yttrium. For dysprosium and terbium in particular,
scarcity is likely to present a problem. Indeed most of the REE are forecasted
as critical with high price volatilities. Consequently it is becoming increasingly
imperative that substitution and end-of-life recovery technologies are developed to
complement mined supplies.
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This percentage as with all presented in this section are cited from the following authors Gibson
and Parkinson (2011); Shaw (2012); Chegwidden and Kingsnorth (2010). In addition, detailed
information for each individual REE can be found in Sec. B.2 in the Appendix.
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