scope of application

This technology belongs to the mining and dressing of non-ferrous metals in the mining industry.

Technology provider

Hubei Province Science and Technology Department

Brief description of technology

This achievement is a prospecting technology for heavy rare earth enrichment areas in weathering crust leaching type rare earth ore. The steps are as follows: (1) Chemical sampling and analysis are carried out at different positions in the mining area of weathering crust leaching type rare earth ore, and preliminary delineation of weathering crust leaching type rare earth ore enrichment areas;(2) A large number of samples are taken from the ridge and mountain depression of the mines in the weathering crust leaching type rare earth ore enrichment area, and the rare earth grade is measured and rare earth distribution analysis is performed on the samples taken;(3) Select the heavy rare earth enrichment area in the weathering crust alluvial rare earth ore based on the test results. This technology can quickly determine the enrichment area of medium and heavy rare earths and improve the mining recovery rate of medium and heavy rare earths.

technical information

Searching for and developing weathered crust alluvial rare earth deposits in Southeast Asia.

Commercial applications

After more than 30 years of basic theoretical research on rare earth metallogenic laws and the development of integrated rare earth exploration-mining-metallurgy technology, a complete and mature industrial technology for prospecting, mineral processing, and mineral processing has been established. Moreover, this technology has successfully guided the prospecting and mining of weathered crust-alluvial rare earth minerals in many Kuangqu mining areas such as southern Jiangxi and southern Yunnan, and has established good industry-university-research cooperation relationships with important domestic rare earth mining enterprises such as China Southern Rare Earth Group.

Help/support you hope to receive during the technology transfer process

Hope to receive support from the national policy level

equipment investment

The material investment in this weathering crust-alluvial rare earth ore prospecting technology is only simple tools such as Luoyang shovel used for sampling and simple glass instruments such as chemical burettes, and the investment amount does not exceed RMB 10,000. Among them, rare earth distribution analysis can be carried out in a professional analysis laboratory equipped with ICP and other instruments, and the sample analysis cost per ton of ore produced is RMB 1000. The application of this technology requires no investment in other new projects and equipment, has low investment amount and is simple to promote and apply.

Annual operation and maintenance fee

In this weathering crust-alluvial rare earth ore prospecting technology, soil needs to be sampled and analyzed in areas such as mountains and ridges of the Kuangqu. A Kuangqu requires 3-5 workers to work for about one month, and the labor cost is RMB 25,000/month; Rare earth chemical titration analysis requires the use of a small amount of chemical reagents such as ammonium sulfate and ascorbic acid, and the rare earth taste analysis cost for each Kuangqu is about RMB 5,000; The rare earth distribution testing fee for each ton of rare earth ore produced is RMB 1000; plus the Kuangqu management fee, etc., combined with the previous experience of prospecting in southern Yunnan, it can be seen that the prospecting cost per ton of rare earth ore is approximately RMB 2000. In addition, there are no utilities, equipment depreciation, maintenance and other maintenance expenses during the operation of the project.

investment recovery period

The investment amount of this technology is small. For the weathering crust leaching type rare earth ore Kuangqu, the prospecting cost per ton of rare earth ore is about RMB 2000. The current market price per ton of rare earth precipitates is 50,000 yuan/ton, so if prospecting is successful, it will bring extremely high economic benefits to relevant enterprises and the market competitiveness of the corresponding countries.

added benefit

Rare earth elements refer to the 15 lanthanide elements, scandium and yttrium elements, which are collectively referred to as rare earths. Rare earth elements have unique special properties such as magnetoelectricity, and can be widely used in high-tech fields as new materials such as magnetic materials, laser materials, luminescent materials, catalytic materials, and glass ceramic materials. Therefore, rare earths are considered to be strategic substances, and the development of rare earth resources has received increasing attention from many developed and industrial manufacturing countries. Especially the scarce medium and heavy rare earths, which have high market competitiveness. Weathering crust leaching type rare earth ore (also known as ionic rare earth ore), rare earth is adsorbed on clay minerals in the form of hydrate ions or hydroxyl hydrate ions. Rare earth can be exchanged in solution by hydrometallurgical ion exchange method to recover rare earth. This type of rare earth ore mainly selects the medium and heavy rare earth distribution type, which is the main source of medium and heavy rare earth. The characteristics of weathering crust-alluvial rare earth ore with complete rare earth distribution and rich in medium and heavy rare earth elements can alleviate the demand pressure for medium and heavy rare earth resources in the world's industrial development. It is a precious resource favored internationally and should be protected and mined. Our country should take advantage of the "Belt and Road" policy to actively search for weathered crust-alluvial rare earth minerals in Southeast Asia, introduce relevant Chinese enterprises to mine and initially process this valuable rare earth resource, and after paying a certain amount of taxes to the local government, all imports will be shipped back to our country for in-depth separation, processing and industrial application. This will not only meet my country's industrial production demand for rare earths, but also protect my country's own resources to a certain extent. After limited mining, more non-renewable precious mineral resources will be left to future generations.

comprehensive benefits

Based on the formation laws of weathering crust-alluvial rare earth deposits, and after years of statistical analysis, we have speculated that areas where weathering crust-alluvial rare earth deposits may exist around the world, including Pakistan, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries. These areas where weathered crust-alluvial rare earth deposits may exist are the construction areas of my country's "Belt and Road". However, these countries generally lack relevant technology, and currently no enterprises, universities, or scientific research institutes are engaged in prospecting and mining of rare earth minerals. If the exploration of rare earth minerals can be strengthened, based on the characteristics of weathered crust rare earth minerals in South Asia, summarizing prospecting indicators and clarifying the reserves of rare earth minerals, it will undoubtedly be of great significance to the planning and development of the world's rare earth industry. The existing prospecting technology only simply detects the total content of rare earth minerals, and does not distinguish between the content of medium and heavy rare earths with high economic value in rare earth minerals. In order to find weathered crust-alluvial rare earth minerals, it is often necessary to drill intensively in mountains and plains to test the content of medium and heavy rare earths in the subsurface humus, fully weathered and semi-weathered layers, which consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, is costly and time-consuming. The technology can solve the above-mentioned shortcomings in the prior art, and provide a prospecting method for heavy rare earth enrichment areas in weathered crust leaching type rare earth mines, which can conveniently and quickly detect the medium and heavy rare earth enrichment areas, reduce labor costs, and effectively improve the extraction rate of rare earth in mineral soil. The prospecting process does not break the environment, and no other three wastes are discharged except for milliliter-level titration waste liquid.

Level of impact of obstacles on technology transfer

1 Local government support 2 Local residents 'support for the technology

technology maturity

After more than 30 years of basic theoretical research on rare earth metallogenic laws and the development of integrated rare earth exploration-mining-metallurgy technology, a complete and mature industrial technology for prospecting, mineral processing, and mineral processing has been established. Moreover, this technology has successfully guided the prospecting and mining of weathered crust-alluvial rare earth minerals in many Kuangqu mining areas such as southern Jiangxi and southern Yunnan, and has established good industry-university-research cooperation relationships with important domestic rare earth mining enterprises such as China Southern Rare Earth Group. Regarding the possible existence of weathering crust leaching type rare earth ore in South Asia along the "Belt and Road", the applicant proposed a convenient, rapid and efficient prospecting technology. The approved patent related to this technology is: a weathering crust leaching type. Prospecting method for heavy rare earth enrichment areas in rare earth mines (ZL201410708983.4). This technology has clear intellectual property rights, controllable technical risks, outstanding technical economics, and can be directly used in enterprise prospecting operations.

technical applicability

The operation method of this technology is simple, and field operators only need to master the basic chemical titration method. Therefore, the application of this technology will not be limited by factors such as the matching relationship of the upstream and downstream technology chains, region, scale, environment, resources and energy, etc., and the application scope is wide., and it is simple to promote and apply.

technical stability

The operating steps of this technology are scientific and easy to learn during actual application, and are extremely sensitive to environmental, technical parameters and other disturbances.

technical safety

In the application of the weathering crust leaching type rare earth ore prospecting technology, only the Luoyang shovel needs to be used for sampling and basic chemical titration analysis in accordance with scientific steps. There will be no secondary pollution and no flammable, explosive and highly toxic substances. Risk of environmental and safety accidents such as leakage. At the same time, it is not limited by objective factors such as imperfect supporting facilities and low market acceptance, and its technological maturity and applicability are high.

Barriers to technology transfer and promotion

Insufficient local government policy support (such as tariffs, subsidies, etc.)

intellectual property transfer

The intellectual property rights of the approved patent related to this technology "A Prospecting Method for Heavy Rare Earth Enrichment Areas in Weathering Crust Elution Type Rare Earth Mines (ZL201410708983.4)" belong to the mineral processing process strengthening team led by Professor Chi Ru 'an of Wuhan Engineering University. The technical intellectual property rights are clear and can be directly transformed into prospecting operations of relevant enterprises in the "Belt and Road" countries.