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Rare Metal (RM) and Rare Earth Element (REE) Resources: World Scenario with Special Reference to India

  • Research Article
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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

The RM (Li, Be, Ti, Zr, Nb, Ta, Th and U) and REE (Light Rare Earths and Heavy Rare Earths including Yttrium) are strategic and critical for sustaining a variety of industries such as nuclear, defence, information technology (IT) and green energy options (wind, solar, electric vehicles and others). The 2010 ‘Rare Earth’ crisis of the world, following China’s monopoly with over 80% share and export restrictions in the REE market, led to an exploration boom for REE all over the world including India. This led to a substantial increase in REE mineral resources (98 Mt of contained REO in 2015) outside China located in Canada (38 Mt), Greenland (39 Mt) and Africa (10.3 Mt) that represents a fivefold increase in resources (c.f. Paulick and Machacek, 2017). As per the 2019, USGS commodity survey, the world reserves of REE have been estimated at 120 Mt in countries such as China (44Mt), Brazil (22Mt), Vietnam (22 Mt), Russia (12 Mt), India (6.9 Mt) and others (13 Mt).

At present world resources of RM and REE are adequate to cater the demands of the different industries. The constraints, however, appear to be not technical but mainly environmental and social issues.

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Acknowledgements

This paper, as part of the Diamond Jubilee lectures of the Geological Society of India, 28 May, 2019, is the outcome of the numerous lectures given by the author and other experts during the three Workshops that were held on ‘RM and REE resources of India: theory and practice’ held at Bengaluru (2015), Thiruvananthapuram (2017) and Jodhpur (2018) as part of the HRD programme conducted by the Geological Society of India, Bangalore and AMD, Hyderabad for the Earth Science Faculty and Research Scholars of Indian Universities and Research Institutions. The author also benefitted from the lectures by numerous other experts during the RM and REE Training Programme and the discussions with them notably Philip Hellman, S.G. Viladkar, S.K. Bhushan,T. Srinivas, O.P. Somani, K.V.G. Krishna, P.V. Thirupathi, K.L. Mundra, P. Jagadeesan and others. I am thankful to them.

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  1. Formerly Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) for Exploration and Research, Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, Hyderabad, 5000 16, India

    P. Krishnamurthy

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Lecture delivered on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the Geological Society of India, 28th May, 2019, Bengaluru, India at Sampath Iyengar Hall, Geological Survey of India, Kumaraswamy Layout, Bengaluru.

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Krishnamurthy, P. Rare Metal (RM) and Rare Earth Element (REE) Resources: World Scenario with Special Reference to India. J Geol Soc India 95, 465–474 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-020-1463-7

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