source:presstv
The pilot plant at the Abbas Abad Industrial Town has been indigenously designed and built by young Iranian experts, he said, hailing it a “great achievement” which will enable the country's access to high-tech industries to continue at a faster pace.
Iranian companies were able to design, manufacture, install, and commission 100% of the equipment, some of which was manufactured and operated for the first time in the country.
Before manufacturers can use the rare earth material extracted from the ground, it must go through a complex and expensive process.
The first step is to mine the ore, usually a carbonatite or monazite, that contains the rare earths. Depending on the grade, it could take anywhere from 6 to 86 tonnes of ore to produce a single tonne of rare earth mineral.
Monazite is a phosphate mineral which contains some rare earth elements. There are five different most common species of monazite, depending on the relative amounts of the rare earth elements it contains. Mostly it contains thorium, lanthanum, and cerium.
Investment in high-tech industries has a higher economic added value compared to conventional industries. Critical minerals and magnets are the new staple of the international economy, and governments are fast realizing that they risk economic and strategic vulnerability without them.
The digitalization of the world economy, transition to renewable energy and pressure to keep apace with developments in cutting-edge technology all hinge on a select few minerals namely lithium, cobalt, copper, graphite, nickel and rare earths that are commonly understood as the “big six”.
Rare earth elements include 17 key mineral components that are used in advanced industries such as semiconductor production, advanced batteries, wind turbines, and military equipment.
They have lately emerged as one of the fronts in an escalating trade war between China and the United States. Earlier this month, Beijing ordered restrictions on the export of six heavy rare earth metals, which are refined entirely in China, as well as rare earth magnets, 90 percent of which are produced in the Asian powerhouse.
The official ban is part of China’s retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s sharp increase in tariffs that started on April 2.
The heavy rare earth metals covered by the ban are used in magnets essential for many kinds of electric motors that power electric and gasoline-powered cars, drones, robots, missiles and spacecraft.
The metals, also vital ingredients in capacitors which are electrical components of the computer chips, power artificial intelligence servers and smartphones.
According to mining experts, Iran is rich in rare earth elements with a capacity to be a major player in the industry globally, but it is essential that critical mineral strategies are implemented in order to find their sources and extract them.
For now, prospecting for rare earth elements is focused on 24,000 square kilometers in central Iran, while further exploration is conducted in the country’s northeast and northwest, where rocks containing augite, zircon, apatite and pyrite have been identified in the Kejal kaolin deposit in Hashtjin in Ardabil province.
In central Iran, 10 rare element anomalies have been recorded over an area of about 7,000 square kilometers, where additional exploration is to be carried out.
By utilizing domestic capacity and modern technologies, Iran can become one of the major suppliers of rare earth elements internationally and pave the way for investment and development of high-tech industries in the country.
In August 2013, a news agency reported that Iranian researchers had produced gallium with 99 percent purity for the first time.
Gallium, used in radar and radio communication devices, satellites and LEDs, is found in trace amounts in zinc ores and in bauxite, and gallium metal is produced when processing bauxite to make aluminium.
Iran is among the countries with zinc, bauxite, aluminum and coal production and processing plants in abundance in all parts of the country.
The country has “fortunately good reserves of rare earth elements,” according to CEO of Mines and Metals Development Investment Company Ardeshir Saad-Mohammadi.
For example, about 125 million tonnes of reserves have been identified in two mines being operated in Yazd where 60 tonnes of soil is processed daily.
“We have achieved the necessary technical knowledge in the pilot phase and are now planning for investment and industrial production,” he said.
In a recent project, he said, Iranian experts were able to economically isolate 17 rare earth elements with high purity using new methods, which is an important milestone in the country’s high-tech industries.
These developments have put Iran on the path of joining the elite league of rare element producers, says Morteza Ali-Akbari, managing director of the Tajali Mines and Metals Development Company, which carried out Iran's first monazite production plant.
Once a mass production plant is set up, Iran’s surplus products will head to international markets, creating a bright future for the country's mining industry, he said.