Recycling Rare Earth Elements

There are 17 different rare earth elements (REEs), and each has its own critical applications in manufacturing, industry and society. The thing that makes them somewhat unique amongst mineral resources is that they always occur jointly with one another in nature. You will not, for instance, find a scandium deposit without also finding yttrium.

Despite their name, REEs are actually quite common, being more plentiful than gold, silver and platinum. However, though they are abundant throughout nature, mineable concentrations of REEs are found much less frequently than other mineral resources.

It's also important to understand that different REE deposits contain different quantities of each metal. Scandium is widely regarded as the rarest of the 17, and is incidentally one of the most expensive natural elements.