Related technologies have been developed, and a new type of rare earth resource has been discovered in Guizhou, China: rare earths with great difficulty in selection, smelting, and separation | strategic | resources
According to the information released by the Chengdu Institute of Comprehensive Utilization of Mineral Resources of the China Geological Survey, an expert group composed of Mao Jingwen, an academician of the CAE Member, Hou Zengqian, an academician of the CAS Member, as well as core experts in the field of rare earth such as the China Rare Earth Society and the China Rare Earth Industry Association, has recently reviewed the project results.
The expert group unanimously believes that the ancient terrestrial sedimentary rare earth deposits in the adjacent areas of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou are a completely new type of rare earth deposit. The project is led by Chengdu Comprehensive Utilization Institute and completed with the participation of Guizhou Geological and Mineral Exploration and Development Bureau and other units.
The head of the research team of the Chengdu Comprehensive Utilization Institute project introduced that "ancient terrestrial sedimentary rare earth deposits" are present in the clay rock series at the bottom of the Permian Xuanwei Formation in the adjacent area of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou. The average grade of rare earth oxides is 0.39%, with an average thickness of about 2 meters, and they are widely distributed. Currently, 9 new prospecting prospects have been discovered, and 8 prospecting target areas have been delineated, with huge resource potential. This has laid the foundation for a new round of breakthrough strategy in mineral exploration.
All the pictures in this paper are the WeChat official account of Chengdu Comprehensive Utilization Institute of Geological Survey Bureau
It is worth noting that the research team also found that the occurrence state of "ancient terrestrial sedimentary rare earth deposits" is very special, with a large number of nanoscale rare earth mineral particles embedded in the layered structure of clay minerals, which makes it extremely difficult to separate this type of rare earth ore.
It is reported that after six rounds of continuous research and development, Chengdu Comprehensive Utilization Institute has successfully developed an environmentally friendly "nanocrystalline transformation rare earth targeted separation" short process integrated selection and smelting technology, which has led to a jump in the leaching rate of rare earth elements to about 90%, with a maximum of 92.1%. At the same time, the leaching rate of major impurities such as aluminum, silicon, and iron is less than 5%. The process has been verified through continuous expansion experiments on a ton scale, and commercial grade mixed rare earth oxide products with rare earth oxide content greater than 92% have been successfully prepared.
This also means that the research and development of the above-mentioned metallurgical technology has laid a certain foundation for the development and utilization of newly discovered sedimentary rare earth deposits, promoting their commercial exploration and development process.
The Chengdu Institute of Comprehensive Utilization stated that this achievement review marks the first time since 2018 that the institute has proposed and clearly defined a new type of rare earth resource with commercial development and utilization value, which has undergone 5 years of investigation, evaluation, and technological breakthroughs. This is also another new type of rare earth deposit discovered after ion adsorption rare earth.
Based on the joint promotion of mineral exploration work by Chengdu Comprehensive Utilization Institute and relevant units in Guizhou Province, the team has identified over 440000 tons of inferred rare earth oxide resources.
The research team of Chengdu Institute of Comprehensive Utilization stated that compared with carbonate rock type and alkaline rock type rare earths, "ancient continental sedimentary type rare earths" have obvious advantages in mining conditions, high value and key rare earth element proportions such as praseodymium neodymium terbium dysprosium; Compared with ion adsorbed rare earth and deep-sea rare earth rich soft mud, it has advantages in terms of grade, scale, concentration, and environmental impact, and has broad prospects for development and utilization; The replacement effect of southern ionic rare earths is gradually becoming prominent.
The Chengdu Comprehensive Utilization Institute was established in 1964 and is a bureau level unit directly under the China Geological Survey of the Ministry of Natural Resources. The institute mainly undertakes the intensive conservation and comprehensive utilization of mineral resources with rare earth as the core, rare and scattered, and bulk shortage as the focus, strategic mineral survey and evaluation, scientific and technological achievement transformation, and industrialization promotion. Since its establishment, the institute has undertaken a large number of national, provincial, and enterprise level scientific and technological research projects and research topics. According to the official website, the institute has provided reliable technical support and strategic basic information for the development and construction of large-scale resource bases in China, marked by three major coexisting mines: Panxi vanadium titanium magnetite, Baiyun Ebo rare earth niobium iron polymetallic mine, and Jinchuan copper nickel mine.
Since 2011, the Ministry of Natural Resources has organized and implemented a breakthrough strategy for mineral exploration. In the past decade, a number of important mineral resource strategic continuity zones have been formed. With the continuous increase in mining consumption, the amount of main mineral resources has generally increased. In September last year, the Ministry of Natural Resources announced that it would work with relevant departments to organize a new round of breakthroughs in mineral exploration, highlight the shortage of strategic resources, strengthen basic geological work, increase exploration, especially precision investigation, fully leverage the role of various market entities, and effectively enhance China's strategic mineral resource security capabilities.
The Chengdu Institute of Comprehensive Utilization stated that relying on a new round of breakthrough strategic action projects for mineral exploration, further strengthening the exploration and development of sedimentary rare earth deposits is of great significance for improving the guarantee level of rare earth resources in China.
It is worth noting that in June of this year, the Strategic Mineral Comprehensive Utilization Engineering Technology Innovation Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources was unveiled at the Chengdu Comprehensive Utilization Institute. This innovation center focuses on key scientific issues related to the development and utilization of strategic mineral resources such as rare earths, vanadium titanium, lithium, iron, copper, nickel, fluorite, and phosphorus, as well as the national demand for mineral resource security. It aims to tackle core key technologies with comprehensive utilization as the main line, promote technological engineering, industrialization, and application demonstration, and is of great significance in supporting and serving a new round of mineral exploration breakthrough strategic actions and promoting high-quality development of the mining industry.
The co construction units of this innovation center also include Shenghe Resources Holdings Co., Ltd., Sichuan Academy of Natural Resources Science, and Ganxian Branch of Ganzhou Natural Resources Bureau in Jiangxi Province.
