Economic analysis of rare earth element processing methods for Mountain Pass ore

IF 0.9 4区材料科学 Q3 Materials Science

Journal of The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Pub Date : 2022-08-22 DOI:10.17159/2411-9717/1989/2022

T. Uysal

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

The increasing demand for rare earth elements (REE) in highly strategic sectors such as hybrid electric vehicles, renewable energy, communication technologies, and the defense industry has made REE production methods important. In recent years, studies on REE have increased rapidly; however there are many studies on REE, there are not enough studies in the literature on the economics of the beneficiation process. RE ores are generally leached after beneficiation by gravity, magnetic and flotation methods. In this study, direct leaching, attrition scrubbing and leaching, and flotation and leaching methods are evaluated economically based on the data for the Mountain Pass (MP) facility. According to the sensitivity analysis performed as a function of capital cost (CAPEX), operating cost (OPEX), and rare earths oxides (REO) recovery, REO recovery has the biggest effect on the process economies. Although the flotation method entails additional investment and operating costs, transportation and operating costs are significantly reduced result of the higher grade and recovery. The flotation method is more profitable, with larger NPV and IRR values and a shorter payback period.

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帕斯山矿石稀土元素加工方法的经济分析

混合动力电动汽车、可再生能源、通信技术和国防工业等高度战略性行业对稀土元素的需求不断增加，这使得稀土生产方法变得重要。近年来，稀土元素的研究迅速增加；然而，对稀土元素的研究很多，而对选矿过程经济性的研究文献却不够。稀土矿通常采用重力、磁力和浮选方法进行选矿后浸出。在本研究中，根据山口（MP）设施的数据，对直接浸出、摩擦洗涤和浸出以及浮选和浸出方法进行了经济评估。根据作为资本成本（CAPEX）、运营成本（OPEX）和稀土氧化物（REO）回收率函数进行的敏感性分析，REO回收率对工艺经济的影响最大。尽管浮选方法需要额外的投资和运营成本，但由于品位和回收率较高，运输和运营成本显著降低。浮选法更有利可图，NPV和IRR值更大，回收期更短。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 工程技术-矿业与矿物加工

CiteScore

1.50

自引率

11.10%

发文量

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal serves as a medium for the publication of high quality scientific papers. This requires that the papers that are submitted for publication are properly and fairly refereed and edited. This process will maintain the high quality of the presentation of the paper and ensure that the technical content is in line with the accepted norms of scientific integrity.