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Rare Earth Elements

2023 APR 15

Preliminary   > Geography   >   Resource geography   >   Resource geography

Why in news?

  • Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute has found large deposits of 15 rare earth elements (REE) in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district.

17 Rare Earths:

Cerium (Ce), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), holmium (Ho), lanthanum (La), lutetium (Lu), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), terbium (Tb), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and yttrium (Y).

 About Rare Earth Elements:

  •  They are a set of 17 metallic elements. These include the 15 lanthanides on the periodic table in addition to scandium and yttrium that show similar physical and chemical properties to the lanthanides.
  • They are called “rare earth” because they occur in low concentrations of minerals and were difficult to extract from their oxide forms.

Significance:

  • They are important in technologies of consumer electronics, computers and networks, communications, clean energy, advanced transportation, healthcare, environmental mitigation, and national defence, among others.
    • Scandium is used in televisions and fluorescent lamps
    • Yttrium is used in drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.
    • Rare earth elements are also used in space shuttle components, jet engine turbines, and drones.
    • Cerium, the most abundant rare earth element, is essential to NASA’s Space Shuttle Programme.
  • Moreover, the push for switching from internal combustion cars to electric vehicles has also led to a rise in demand for rare earth.

Add ons:

  • India has 6% of the world’s rare earth reserves, it only produces 1% of global output, and meets most of its requirements of such minerals from China.
  • Mining and processing of rare earth in India are concentrated in the hands of Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL)
    • Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) is a PSU under the Department of Atomic Energy.
    • IREL’s prime focus is to provide thorium — extracted from monazite (found in many coastal states) — to the Department of Atomic Energy.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

With reference to India, consider the following statements:

1. Monazite is a source of rare earths.

2. Monazite contains thorium.

3. Monazite occurs naturally in the entire Indian coastal sands in India.

4. In India, Government bodies only can process or export monazite.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1, 2 and 3 only

(b) 1, 2 and 4 only

(c) 3 and 4 only

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer