Rare earth element (REE) behaviour in alkaline mineral systems:Harnessing nature's geochemical patterns.

Rare earth element (REE) behaviour in alkaline mineral systems:
Harnessing nature's geochemical patterns

Rare Earth Elements (REE) are essential to the UK's high technology manufacturing industries but our supply comes from only a few deposits worldwide, with the vast majority from China. New sources must be found and new exploration methods developed. All buried mineral deposits have a fingerprint and we believe that surface soils and certain rocks such as volcanic ashes contain signatures of REE leading to deposits deep below, according to recent geological hypothesis. One aim of our research is to determine what these signatures are and to use these "route-maps" discover new REE deposits, hidden by surface layers. To achieve this and to make our research widely applicable, we need to understand the signature patterns and the fundamental processes causing them. This will also help us to understand the cycling of REE in surface environments, not just with an eye on the application to finding new resources but also for efficient exploitation. We have stimulated significant interest in this concept from mineral exploration companies and this project aims to bring together these industrial players and academic researchers to develop the ideas.
We have noted that a particular group of common, naturally occurring minerals, the zeolites, accumulate small quantities of REE and might be selective in which REE they concentrate. We hope to discover which zeolites are selective for which particular REE to be able to harness the patterns for industrial innovation. The findings will have the potential to help with making special, separated REE components for use in manufacturing, and for environmental benefits from energy savings.
Understanding and mimicking nature has led to many innovations for the benefit of society, (e.g. flight and antibiotics) and in pursuit of our goals we can exploit recent observations from the largest REE deposit in the world (Bayan Obo, China), to help examine our concepts of REE mobilities. At Bayan Obo there are enrichment patterns involving the light-REE and the much sought after heavy-REE, which we can use to understand REE mobility. If we team up with theoretical modellers and materials' scientists, we hope to contrive to mimic nature for developing more heavy-REE products for society, by using existing industrial liquids, and lessening the need for new mines.

Economic and Societal Impacts
1. Changing organisational culture and practices (a): With ion-selectivity experiments directed at using mixed REE-chloride solutions with a commercially-available natural zeolite. (b): Finding new markets for La and Ce with catalysis development in relation to zirconium materials,
2. Wealth creation: Access to fundamental ion-exchange data for increased product viability and profit from previously benign wastes - also higher demand for industrial zeolites for REE processing.
3. Environmental sustainability: Minimizing the environmental impacts of the mining, from co-product recovery.
4. Commercialisation and exploitation: Scoping for new procedures for separation, leading to new opportunities for recycling, with environmental impact
5. Reducing monopolistic risk: - REE processing innovations.
6. Attracting R&D investment: Global pathfinder hypothesis with a demonstrable relevance to mineral exploration - attracting mineral's industry.
7. Improving health and well-being: Future societal benefits are identified with research on K-rich zeolitized alkaline tuffs - K-fertilizer potential, especially for poorer, densely-populated regions of the world. Royal Society and DfID agendas.
Academic Impacts
Science opportunities and pathways to impact within SoS:
8. Enhancing the knowledge economy: The geochemical interpretation of the HFSE (including Nb) are unknown. The cross-disciplinary Australian, Pearce and Wall collaborations can address scoping for these science challenges, creating knowledge impact for wide applicability. SoS scoping opportunity for HREE deposits (Wall's Catalyst) presents a potential knowledge impact pathway for regolith/clay speciation studies.
9. Worldwide academic enhancement: Pathfinder hypothesis is globally applicable. Open-access publication pathway for international benefit and knowledge exchange.
Science opportunities and pathways to impact beyond SoS:
10. Innovative methodologies: New hypothesis, enigmatic geological histories and cross-disciplinary impact.
11. Cross-disciplinary approaches: The awarding of a "Science Highlight" by the Deep Carbon Observatory at https://dco.gl.ciw.edu/news for the hypothesis paper (Campbell et al., 2012), demonstrates a tangible academic impact beyond SoS, and it also demonstrates relevance of the research to Earth system science (NERC priorities). Publicity of research across disciplines is therefore a good impact pathway, and can be achieved with general interest articles, as in Campbell et al. 2013, Geoscientist, in press.
12. Enhancing the knowledge economy: Potential contributions to the international Databases (e.g. Hazen et al., 2011, Neftex Ltd., in addition to more conventional data storage methods. Long-term value and impact from data generated.