Mining Engineering Commons^™

Surface Chemisty Study Of Monazite Flotation In Coal Refuse Systems, Wencai Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Rare earth mineral recovery from alternative resources such as coal and coal byproducts is increasingly important to provide an opportunity for economic recovery from U.S. sources. Currently, China produces the majority of the 149,000 tons of rare earth elements used annually worldwide of which the U.S. imports 11% or around 16,000 tons. There are no significant mining operations producing rare earth elements in the U.S. However, there are many U.S. sources containing rare earth minerals such as monazite including heavy mineral sand and phosphate operations. Monazite mineral particles of a few microns have also been detected in Fire Clay seam …