Mineral Sands

Mineral sands are old beach, river or dune sands that hold concentrations of heavy minerals such as rutile, ilmenite, zircon and monazite, according to Geoscience Australia. For mineral sands rare earths, the carriers are monazite and xenotime, recovered as byproducts of titanium mining. Monazite placers were important rare earth sources until the mid-1960s, and the U.S. Geological Survey says they may be significant sources again (USGS Professional Paper 1802-O).

What mineral sands are and how they form

The heavy minerals in these deposits have a relative density of 4 to 5.5 g/cm³, against about 2.65 for quartz. Waves and wind carry lighter quartz away and leave the heavy grains behind (Geoscience Australia).

Heavy minerals typically make up no more than 15% of a deposit, and economic "black sand" deposits usually carry 5% or more (USGS).

Which minerals in mineral sands carry rare earths

Ilmenite typically makes up 45% to 75% of heavy-mineral output and monazite only 1% to 2%, per the International Atomic Energy Agency. Monazite, (REE,Th)PO₄, is typically 40% to 70% rare earths and xenotime, YPO₄, about 67% (USGS; IAEA).

The heavy rare earth content varies by deposit. Iluka Resources says its Wimmera minerals carry a higher share of dysprosium and terbium than its Eneabba stockpile (Iluka, April 2022). India's deposits hold no dysprosium, terbium or europium in extractable quantity, per the Indian Bureau of Mines.

Where mineral sands are mined for rare earths (as of October 2026)

India. Rare earths come from monazite in heavy-mineral sands, mined by the government-owned IREL and KMML at operations including Manavalakurichi in Tamil Nadu and Chavara in Kerala (USGS). Monazite is a prescribed substance under India's Atomic Energy Act, 1962, and IREL is the only entity processing it into rare earth compounds. Odisha hosts the Chhatrapur beach sand deposit and IREL's extraction plant at OSCOM (Indian Bureau of Mines). REEx reported in February 2026 that commercial-scale mining and processing remain limited (REEx).

Australia. USGS wrote in 2017 that Australia had not produced monazite from heavy-mineral sands since the 1990s, to avoid concentrating thorium (USGS). Iluka stored its monazite and xenotime byproduct at Eneabba from the early 1990s (Iluka). Iluka says it is now building Australia's first fully integrated refinery for separated rare earth oxides there, with feedstock deals including VHM (Iluka, July 2026). As of August 2026, construction was 60% complete and commissioning is set for 2027 (Iluka).

In Victoria, a final investment decision on the Energy Fuels and Astron Donald joint venture is now targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026 (Form 8-K, October 2026; Astron, September 2026). VHM agreed a non-binding term sheet with Mitsui for up to 65,000 metric tons a year of heavy mineral concentrate from Goschen (REEx, October 2026).

United States. In 2025, monazite came from heavy-mineral-sand concentrates in the Southeast (USGS), a coproduct of U.S. titanium mining (USGS). Energy Fuels has bought monazite from Chemours' Florida and Georgia operations since 2021 for separated neodymium-praseodymium at its Utah mill (Form 10-K).

Madagascar, Brazil and Malaysia. Rio Tinto's QMM operation near Fort Dauphin (Mandena) produces monazite alongside ilmenite and zirsill (Rio Tinto). Energy Fuels' Vara Mada project still needs a final investment decision and depends on Madagascar's government formalizing fiscal terms (Form 10-Q). In 2017, USGS named Brazil's Buena Norte district as a coastal monazite source and said Malaysia recovers monazite and xenotime from tin tailings called amang (USGS).

How rare earth minerals are separated from mineral sands

At KMML's Chavara plant, spiral concentrators upgrade the sand. In the dry mill, high-tension electrostatic separators split it into conducting and non-conducting fractions, and magnetic separators pull out the ilmenite. Monazite is one of the minerals separated (KMML).

Monazite concentrate from placers is usually cracked with sodium hydroxide, which yields a mixed rare earth and thorium hydroxide cake. That route largely replaced sulfuric acid digestion, where much of the thorium precipitated with the rare earths (IAEA). Monazite can hold up to 20% thorium oxide, and USGS calls thorium and uranium one of the biggest environmental challenges in rare earth mining (USGS). A 2026 review covered by REEx found monazite rare earth extraction ranges from below 30% to nearly 100% depending on processing conditions, though high lab extraction does not equal commercial success (REEx).

Why mineral sands rare earths matter

Coastal deposits are easy to dig and relatively easy to process, and they yield several products. Large undeveloped coastal deposits, many containing monazite, run from eastern Virginia to Florida (USGS). Much of the new supply is not yet operating. Energy Fuels does not own an operating monazite mine (Form 8-K), and Iluka signed its first binding take-or-pay offtake, with an unnamed automaker, in June 2026 (REEx).

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