ANU & Chinese Academy of Sciences Find Way to Potentially Access Abundant Rare Earths in Extinct Volcano

Hightlights

• Demand for rare earth elements is increasing, especially for renewable technologies.
• Extinct volcanoes could harbor abundant rare earth resources.
• Australia has significant potential in the rare earth industry.

With national markets moving toward renewable energy technologies, the demand for rare earth elements continues to surge. In fact, demand for these elements is expected to increase fivefold by 2030 (opens in a new tab).

Reported by the university, Dr. Michael Anenburg (opens in a new tab) B.Sc, M.Sc (BGU), Ph.D (ANU) from ANU said the iron-rich magma that solidified to form some extinct volcanoes could be hundreds of times more efficient at concentrating rare earth metals than the magmas that commonly erupt from active volcanoes.

“We have never seen an iron-rich magma erupt from an active volcano, but we know some extinct volcanoes, which are millions of years old, had this enigmatic type of eruption,” Dr. Anenburg said. “Our findings suggest that these iron-rich extinct volcanoes across the globe, such as El Laco in Chile, could be studied for the presence of rare earth elements (opens in a new tab).”

In the study published in the journal Geochemical Perspectives Letters (opens in a new tab) the researchers simulated volcanic eruptions (opens in a new tab) in the lab by sourcing rocks similar to those from iron-rich extinct volcanoes. They put these rocks into a pressurized furnace and heated them to extremely high temperatures (opens in a new tab) to melt them and learn more about the minerals inside the rocks.

“Rare earth elements (opens in a new tab) aren’t that rare. They are similar in abundance to lead and copper. But breaking down and extracting these metals from the minerals they reside in is challenging and expensive,” Dr. Anenburg said.

China has the biggest deposit of rare earth elements on the planet, while Europe’s largest deposit of rare earths is in Sweden. Australia has a world-class deposit at Mount Weld in Western Australia and others near Dubbo and Alice Springs.

According to Dr. Anenburg, Australia has an opportunity to become a major player in the clean energy space by capitalizing on its abundance of rare earth resources.

This work was led by Shengchao Yan (opens in a new tab) from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Tag: Rare Earth Elements, Volcano, Investor