The Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) says it will unveil a top-priority plan in the central town of Bafq in Yazd Province to extract and produce rare earth elements (REE’s).
The IMIDRO head, Mehdi Karbasian, said his organization has given priority to the investment in REEs sector, the development of which has been ignored for many years. According to Karbasian, also the deputy minister of industry, mine and trade, the production of minerals such as iron ore, coal will be replaced with developing and processing the REEs, which could generate far more value added.
“The REEs have much greater potential than coal and iron ore to generate revenue and they are more economical to produce”, IRNA quoted Karbasian as saying.
Rare earth elements include 15 elements such as lanthanides (cerium, neodymium, samarium, promethium, lanthanum, gadolinium, and erbium) as well as scandium and yttrium, all of which are widely used in high-tech industries. Some REEs cost up to $7,000 per kilogram.
Meanwhile, some experts believe independent exploration of the REEs is not economical and that the exploration of such valuable elements should be done simultaneously with exploring other minerals.
