RE: Complexity of Rare Earths17 Jun 2025 13:52
Courtesy of @sustainabledud1 on X:
If we were to believe Critical Metals Corp (you shouldn't), it is 'the largest rare earth deposit in the world'
It sound fantastic does it? Yeah it does, except that you cannot get the rare earths out, which is pretty damn important when you want to use them as a "reliable supply crucial for national security" - quoted from Critical Metals
See, the rare earths are contained in a mineral called 'eudialyte'. While many don't give this too much attention, the mineral that contains the rare earths (or other metal of interest) is often exactly what makes or breaks a mining project.
See below the chemical composition of eudialyte
Na15(Ca,Ce)6(Fe,Mn)3Zr3Si(Si25O73)(O,OH,H2O)3(OH,Cl)2
The first problem is that the eudialyte mineral here only contains 3% rare earths (on a weight basis). This directly eliminates the possibility of making a eudialyte concentrate at the mine site and shipping that to a potential customer. Why? because the economics to ship a concentrate with only 3% valuable content halfway around the world simply don't add up. (yes, there are some other potential by-products in the eudialyte like Zr, Nb but the equation still holds).
That alone would make this project a no-go, but here is the real problem; eudialyte is an absolute nightmare to process (i.e. to get the rare earths out in usable form, at acceptable cost).
When you process eudialyte, you get stuck with a thick mush of what's called 'silica gel'. It's an absolute nightmare from a chemical processing perspective because it clogs filters, fouls equipment, and traps valuable metals in a sticky matrix that’s incredibly difficult to separate.
This gel forms when the silicate portion of the eudialyte dissolves in acid and then re-polymerizes, creating a viscous slurry that resists normal solid-liquid separation methods. Once the gel sets in, even high-pressure filtration, centrifugation, or thickening become problematic. It leads to extended downtime, increased reagent consumption, and major losses of both product and process efficiency.
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