the eurare project - indmin

www.eurare.eu

Laboratory of Metallurgy, NTUAEURARE Coordinator

The EURARE project

2 - EURARE project

The EURARE ProjectDeveloping a sustainable exploitation scheme for

Europe’s REE ore deposits

the main goal of the EURARE project is to set the technological basis for the development of a European REE industry that will safeguard the uninterrupted supply of REE raw materials and products to crucial for the EU economy industrial sectors, such as automotive, electronics, machinery and chemicals, in a sustainable, economically viable and environmentally friendly way.

3 - Project Overview

“The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme ([FP7/2007-2013]) under grant agreement n°309373. This publication reflects

only the author’s view, exempting the Community from any liability”.


The EURARE EC Grant Agreement was signed on 14/12/2012 It is in effect from 01/01/2013 to 31/12/2017 23 partners from 10 European countries


The EURARE Consortium Knowledge Chain


I. Definition and assessment of the exploitable REE mineral resources and REE demand in Europe.

II. Development of sustainable and efficient REE Ore Beneficiation Technologies, that will lead to the production of high grade REE concentrates and minimization of produced tailings

III. Development of sustainable REE Extraction and Refining Technologies, achieving at least 95% extraction and separation yields of REE and to produce at least 98% pure REE oxides, REE metals and REE alloys suitable for use in downstream industries

IV. The development of a Strategy for safe REE mining and processing

V. Field Demonstration of the novel EURARE REE exploitation technologies.

VI. Identification of novel sustainable exploitation schema for Europe’s REE deposits.

EURARE Concept and Objectives


RTD Effort


The EURARE ProjectEuropean REE Deposits

Athens 11‐12 Feb 2013EURARE Kick off meeting9 - Project Overview

A REE map before EURARE

Assessing the REE Resources in all Europe


Compiled a list of 91 REE occurrences in 20 European countries

Parallel exploratory field work in Greenland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Scotland and Greece

Developing an on-line REE database: EURARE-IKMS

The EURARE project team

http://eurare.brgm-rec.fr/


Sökli

Kiruna

Fen

Norra Kärr

Storkwitz

Peramos

Çanakli

Parnasos(Bauxite)

Sarfartoq

Qaqarssuk

Kringlerne

Kvanefjeld

Motzfeldt

Named deposits are subjects of active exploration –with bold explorations in EURARE

Interactive Map already onlinehttp://eurare.eu/countries/reemap.html

13 - Project OverviewProvider’s own format

Mapping (ETL process and code lists)

Harvesting DB(+ quality control)

Project DB

Diffusion DB(+ diffusion optimizations)

Documents & Metadata

Web Services(WMS/WFS)

Web Services(Search engine)

Web Services(Stats, auto report, filtering…)

DB SYNCHRONIZATION

Standardized data models(INSPIRE MR, ERML)

Harvesting mechanism

(ETL process)

INFORMATION FACTORY

EU-MKDP Web PortalEU-MKDP Web Portal

WebServices

National DB

Provider DB

National DB

Provider DB

Indexation

Provider DB

Deegree 3

MICKA Catalog(CS/W)

A professional architecture: A Central Harvesting Database synchronized with a Central Diffusion Database. The first one controls data quality and the second one is optimized for diffusion. Synchronization is made using SQL scripts.

A professional architecture: A Central Harvesting Database synchronized with a Central Diffusion Database. The first one controls data quality and the second one is optimized for diffusion. Synchronization is made using SQL scripts.

EU levelCountry

levelWeb

ServicesWeb

Services

One step further…Building the EURMKB

> 14http://eurare.brgm-rec.fr/


Kvanefjeld Deposit, Greenland

GME has invested over $60M over past 5 years in exploration and research

JORC-code mineral resource at Kvanefjeld currently stands at 619Mt @ 1.06% TREO and 0.03% U3O8

Potential to supply 20% of global heavy rare earth element demand.

One of the world’s largest known REE deposit

Geological Setting: Peralkaline nepheline Major REE mineral: Steenstrupine


Norra Karr Deposit, Sweden

331Kt of TREO, (0.44% TREO grade)

40 Year Mine Life

No radioactivity

Simple magnetic concentration

Potential to supply 14% of the projected world demand in Dy oxide, 7% in Tb oxide and 2.2% of Nd oxide

Exploitable Zr content

Granted test mine permit

Unique HREE/LREE % ratio: 49/51

Geological Setting: Peralkaline nepheline Major REE mineral :Eydialite

NORRA KÄRR


Kringlerne Deposit, Greenland

Large deposit @ 0.57% TREO grade

Similar to Norra Karr in mineralogy and HREE content

Estimated TREO reserves similar to Kvanefjeld

No radiation issues

Exploration license

High HREE/LREE % ratio: 31/69

Geological Setting: Peralkaline nepheline Major REE mineral :Eydialite


Fen Complex, Norway

Historical (1921) REE deposit 129 km from Oslo

Contains also Fe, Nb, Th

0.5-2.0% REE – mostly LREE

Rodberg: > 300 million tons with >1,5 % REE; 76% Fe-oxides

Low REE mineral grain size, prevents effective beneficiation

Th content

RødbergREO: 1,5-2,0%Th: 0,1%Magnetite (main): Fe3O4Some Carbonates

RauhaugiteREO:1,2-1,8%Th: 0,01%Ankerite(main):Ca(Fe,Mg,Mn)(CO3)2Some Magnetite: Fe3O4

SøviteREO: 0,5% (in apatite)Th: 0,01%Calcite (main): Ca CO3Apatite:Ca5(PO4)3(F,Cl,OH)Niobium

Bauxite Residue (red mud), GreeceIndustrial by-product of primary

aluminium industry

More than 700,000 t produced annually in Greece and stored near the plant

0.14% TREO including Sc

BR produced in AoG annualyamounts to 10% of the European REE imports

Potential global Sc resource

No beneficiation methodology

Low Th content.

Waste-to-resource13- Project Overview

Scandium global annual production is less than 15 t

Why is Sc important?


Sc is an “exotic” REE produced in minor quantities from Uranium, TiO2 and other tailings

Sc can ‘substitute’ Y in many material applications achieving superior results:

In SOFC Sc-stabilized Zirconia has lowered operational temperatures leading to commercialization of the technology

Sc drastically improves Aluminium alloy properties increasing strength, corrosion resistance, allowing welding and others

The Al-Sc-Mg alloy powder is used in 3D printing by AIRBUS

Sc-SOFC deployed at NASA building

APWorks, 2 Decemeber 2015“We did produce 122 out of the 162

parts on our M400 out of SCALMALLOY®.

The partition weights a massive 45% less than current Airbus A320

partition designs”


The EURARE Project

RTD on REE European Resources

Beneficiation Lab Tests of REE deposits


Samples collected from 8 European deposits (Greenland, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Spain)

Chemical, Mineralogical and liberation analysis performed

Beneficiation flow sheets have been produced for 5 samples (3 alkaline igneous rock, 1 hydrothermal, 1 placer deposit)

TREE concentrate grades up to 15%Na4Ca1.5Ce0.5Fe2+

0.6Mn2+0.3Y0.1ZrSi8O22(OH)1.5Cl0.5

Eudialyte


All the Deposits Tested Kringlerne Nora Karr Kvanefjeld Olserum FEN Minerals Rodberg Sovite Rauhaugite

Bastnat New Joh

Greek Placer

Eudialytes 0.6% REO in ore

Allanite 0.6% REO

Steenstrupine 1.3% REO in ore

Monazite and Xenotime 0.5% REO in ore

Mixture of RE Value Minerals (0.2-1.5 % REO)

Iron Rich

Carbonate Rich

Complex Mixture and High Grade (15%REO)

1.5 -2.0%

15%

TREO Mineral Concentrates

produced

20%

NA

1.5%

-

Mineral acid leaching of low grade Silicate REE ores


Low energy process (no baking)

Relatively low acid consumption

Application to Norra Karr, Tanbreez, Kvanefjeld

To be tested in Pilot scale under EURARE

Silicate REE ores have never been used for REE products


Selective recovery of REEs against Fe, Si, Ti

The structure of the IL remains intact from the whole process of leaching and regeneration.

Aqueous Strip solution produced is suitable for Sc extraction (Sc up‐concentrates more than 16 times from the IL‐PLS)

Selective Leaching of Red Mud with ILs


Nanotechnology for extraction and separation of REE

The proof of concept for the creation of magnetic nanoadsorbents for extraction and separation of REE has been achieved.

Produced adsorbents are stable in highly acidic medium in over 1 year.

The separation coefficient between heavy and light REE reaching ca 80 has been demonstrated.

Potential reduction of the volumes of acidic wastewaters up to 10 times has been envisaged.

New insights into the surface chemistry of nanoadsorbents materials have been obtained, providing basis for theoretical evaluation of their maximum capacity and potential selectivity.

Dy:Ndratio

Dy:Laratio

Particles obtained afteradsorption at neutral pH

3.1 : 1 4.4 : 1

Particles obtained afterdesorption at pH=3

3.2 : 1 81 : 1

Particles obtained afterdesorption at pH=1

1.2 : 1 2.0 : 1

Total uptake capacity (by titration), mmol/g

0,242 0,275

Selectivity of -Fe2O3@SiO2@L3

New method for extraction and separation of REE

Split-anion extraction is new approach to extraction of rare earths from aqueous chloride feed solution

Robust system (requires little to no pH control)

Very easy stripping procedure by water –easier waste water treatment

Essentially a new approach to ”well-known” complexation systems with a proven efficiency – with a new type of application that simplifies it, since no change of the aqueous phase is necessary (nitrate/thiocyanate)

Less stability issues with thiocyanate ions

Invention allows development of rare-earth separation processes with lower OPEX (no acids and bases are consumed; the sole consumables are water and steam)

Conventional neutral of basic route S-X

Split-Anion Extraction

i.e. A336NO3 i.e. A336SCN

i.e. Nitrate IL

Basic Science enlightened: N2O3 Dissolution kinetics

Electrical resistivity/Solubility measurements

Nd-C Phase diagram produced

An optimized cell has been produced allowing for: • Process control based on cell voltage with

off-gas analysis to stay in green process window without PFC emission

• Ladder Program with automatic feeding

• Development of feeding equipment

98% pure Nd produced


Optimizing Molten salt REE metal production


Electro-recovery of REE from ionic liquids (ILs) at near room

temperature REE Electro-winning was performedat T<100oC and REE metals La, Nd,Sm, Dy and alloy Fe-Nd wereelectrodeposited

Precursors used are REE chlorides

The IL solvent is not effected in theprocess.

Energy consumption per kg is 10less than conventional moltensalt technology

Current Efficiency >85%

Prototype Cell for continuousoperation is being tested


The EURARE Project

From Ore to Magnet technology demonstration in

Pilot scale

La & Ce chlorides

The Kvanefjeld demonstration line


26 t Ore 1.3% REO

250 kg Mineral Concentrate 15% REO

25 kg Mixed REE Carbonate 50% REO

Nd & Pr oxides

Kvanefjeld SampleGME, Greenland

Beneficiation Pilot Plant(GTK, Finland)

Leaching Pilot Plant(Outotec, Finland)

Solvent Extraction Pilot Plant

(MEAB, Germany)

Nd & Pr chlorides

Heavy REE chlorides


Kvanefjeld Refinery Pilot Plant at Pori, October 2015. 25 kg of mixed REE carbonated produced from 250 kg ore concentrate.


Continuous extraction demo. tests using MEAB’s MSU-0.5 mixer-settler equipment

Almost all heavy and medium REEs were extracted in a multi stage mixer settler arrangement.

230 lt of PLS processed containing app. 12 kg of REE

Kvanefjeld Solvent-Extraction Pilot Plant at Aachen, January 2016.


06/2016

500 kg Norra Karr Mineral Concentrate @ 1.5% REO

Eudialyte Leaching Pilot Plant

(RWTH, Germany)

09/2016 Nd & Pr oxides

Solvent Extraction Pilot Plant

(MEAB, Germany)

La-Nd & Sm-Tb Chlordes

Heavy REE Chlorides

Yttrium Chloride

250 kg TANBREEZ Mineral Concentrate 2.1% REO

Eudialyte Concentrates Processing

GTK Beneficiation Pliot TANBREEZ Beneficiation Pliot

Overview of EURARE major achievements so far... Mapping of European REE resources – First interactive online

database system IKMS Beneficiation and leaching of Eudialytes (low grade silicate

deposits found in Europe) Utilization of Bauxite Residues as a potential resource for

global Sc production New S-X technologies using nanotechnology or Ionic Liquids Optimizing molten salt REE metal production Achieved REE metal electowinning in Ionic Liquids at near

room temperature First industrial pilot plant case studies in Europe for

producing REE from European REE resources


So what does it all mean for Europe ? The potential to reduce REE import dependency exists… BUT several pieces of the puzzle are missing



So what does it all mean for Europe ? And if a REE industry was established in Europe,

would you have it in your backyard ?

We all want clean energy and high-tech devices in our life, but we seem to prefer that some one else does the dirty mining and processing job for us.