Rare Earth Elements (REE) Processing: A South African perspective

This presentation speaks about:
REE Beneficiation:
• How rare they are, where they are found, the largest deposit
• The China syndrome
• South Africa
• The minerals
• The targeted product
• High level processing route
• How are are rare earth elements?
• How difficult are they to process and why?
• How do we separate them from one another?
• Can it be done in South Africa?
• What does it cost?
• Centralized refinery
• Process technology
• Can South Africa build and operate a centralized REE facility?

Conclusion:
• South Africa may not have world class REE resources
• There is probably space for one more world class producer in the next 10 years
• The question is: Why not South Africa?

The speaker’s biography:
Leon Krüger joined Mintek as Manager of the Hydrometallurgy Division in 2011. Before that, he occupied senior Research and Development positions at De Beers and Multotec. He holds a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry (1990) and has extensive experience in a wide range of process as well as environmental technologies acquired over a period of 29 years in the minerals processing industry. These include PGM and REE processing, diamond processing as well as development of mineral processing equipment. Highlights are the process development for ferrofluid manufacture, ferrohydrostatic separation of minerals, chemistry and process design for the hydrofluoric acid dissolution of kimberlite (micro diamond liberation), chemically enhanced weathering of kimberlite, ice sorting, paste thickening and co-disposal, electrokinetic dewatering as well as spatial modelling for mine closure planning and liability estimation.
Major focus areas in the Hydrometallurgy Division at Mintek are currently, fundamental process modelling, reagent recycling, process intensification and novel separation processes

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