Japan’s search for alternative rare earths supply

Yasushi WatanabeInstitute for Geo-Resources and Environment, AIST

y-watanabe@aist.go.jp

6th International Rare Earths Conference@ 9-11 November 2010, Hong Kong, China

Contents

• Rare earth supply and applications of Japan• Sourcing challenges• Japanese perspective

Metal consumption of Japan

Rare earths exported from China

2006 2007 2008 2009 09/08Amount (t) 65,907 54,421 54,959 43,918 -20%

to Japan 28,344 28,144 28,423 14,933 -47%share 43% 52% 52% 34%

Amount (M$) 477.039 763.781 686.771 310.089 -55%to Japan 315.047 538.590 456.993 141.281 -69%

share 66% 71% 67% 46%

Industrial Rare Metals (2010), based on the report by China and the West The Maritime Customs Service

Rare earths (including chlorides) imported to Japan2006 2007 2008 2009 Share (%)

China (t)(M\)

3607237637

3681363981

3145151060

1601814507

8367

France (t)(M\)

20791675

12452086

17122480

1373944

7.14.3

USA (t)(M\)

1771029

273631

131240

275251

1.41.2

CIS+Estonia (t)(M\)

2249739

1736883

1220985

609769

3.23.5

India (t)(M\)

76087

54197

Total (t)(M\)

4195543096

4056469938

3532758505

1929021743

100100

Industrial Rare Metals (2010)

JOGMEC website

Rare earth availability in Japan

• Decreased export quotasby China

• Practical stop of rare earth import from China in late September.

Strategy for stable supply of rare earths

• Development of new supply sources outside China

• Recycle

– Not recycled from the final products yet

– Started projects of REE recycling from magnets, NiHbattery, phosphor, etc. with the financial support by the government.

• Reduction

• Substitution

REE projects in the world

More than 100 REE exploration projects are on-going

Sourcing challenges• Joint enterprises in China

– Showa Denko, Hitachi, Santoku• Development of resources

outside China– Dong Pao (Vietnam), Tailing of

uranium deposits (Kazakhstan)• Investment for the REE projects

– Pitinga (Brazil), Indian placer (India)• Grass-root exploration by

JOGMEC– Ytterby (Canada), Benson (USA),

Laocai (Vietnam), Mabel Creek (Australia), etc.

REE projects that include Japanese companiesName Country REE Company Plan Planned

production

Orissa India Th, LREE Toyota Corp. 2012 production 4500t

Dong Pao

Vietnam LREE Vinacomin, Toyota Corp, Sojitu

2012 production 7000t

Ulba Kazakhstan HREE Kazatomprom, Sumitomo Corp

2011 production? 3000t

Pitinga Brazil HREE Neo Material Technology, Mitsubishi Corp.

Country Project Partner Start Term (year)

Interest(%)

REE Australia Roxby Downs Minotaur Exploration, etc. 2007.09 3 51

REE Vietnam Laocai Vietnam Gov. 2007.10 3

REE Australia Mabel Creek Minotaur Exploration 2008.07 3 51

REE USA Benson Gold Canyon 2009.09 1 80

REE Canada Ytterby Midland Exploration 2010.02 3 50

Joint exploration projects by JOGMEC

Dong Pao project in Vietnam

• 2000-2001 Explored by MMAJ (JOGMEC) and Vimico

• Reserves: 7.4Mt@5.22% REO (3% cutoff) in No.3 orebody

• 2009 Toyota Corp, Sojitu, Vinacominagreed joint development

• Ore minerals: bastnasite, synchysite, monazite (minor)

Fujii et al. (2010)

F3 orebody at Don Pao

Fujii et al. (2010)B: laterite ore (Ba >50% Ce, Bc <50% Ce)A: Saprolitic ore

A rare earth composition at Dong PaoMJVD7-54 (ppm) MJVD7-54 (%)

La 28,500 33.7

Ce 41,200 48.7

Pr 3,040 3.59

Nd 9,580 11.3

Sm 909 1.07

Eu 200 0.24

Gd 454 0.54

Tb 48.8 0.06

Dy 102.5 0.12

Ho 17.1 0.02

Er 73.7 0.09

Tm 3.7 0.00

Yb 18.1 0.02

Lu 1.8 0.00

Y 469 0.55

Total (REO) 10.16% 100.00

LREE 10.02% 98.6

HREE 0.14% 1.4

JICA & MMAJ (2003) Fujii et al. (2010)

Development plan of Dong Pao deposit

• Target: high grade saprolitic ore (a half of REE)

Fujii et al. (2010)

Material flow chain

Rare Metal News No. 2378 (2008)

Reduction

• Dy-saving NdFeB magnet project (2007-2012)– Enhancement of residual

flux density (Br) & coercive force (Hc) by formation of Dy-rich thin shell (20% Dy reduction) and grain-size reduction (30% Dy reduction)

– Possibility to reduce 50% Dy in NdFeB magnet

Br: degree of magnetic forceHc: heat resistance

Grain Boundary Diffusion Alloying by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd. (Minowa, 2009)

REE concentration in stratabound Mn oresFerromanganese ore Manganese ore

Element Content (average)Fe2O3 37.19 % 2.93 %MnO 29.08 % 50.11 %

ΣREE 1816 ppm 60 ppmPr 97 ppm 2 ppmNd 392 ppm 9 ppmSm 88 ppm 2 ppmTb 15 ppm 0.4 ppmDy 80 ppm 2 ppmTh 13 ppm 1.6 ppmU 3 ppm 3 ppm

• wakefieldite-(Nd) : NdVO4

• Occur with hematite and caryopilite(Mn,Mg)3Si3O5(OH)4

Future perspective

2013: 40,000t, 2015: 48,000t

Feng & Yao (2009)

Indium

Rare earths

Summary• Japan has consumed about 1/4-1/5 of rare earths annually

produced in the world.

• Rare earths have used for polishing materials, magnet materials, LaNiH batteries, catalysts, glass, etc. Automobile industry is a major end user of rare earths in Japan.

• Japanese government and private sectors look for rare earth sources outside China because of the significant decrease of export quotas and unstable export by China.

• A few projects (Vietnam, India, Kazakhstan) plan to produce rareearths within a couple of years, which may supply the amount more than half of the Japanese consumption, coupled with the supply from the Lynas Mount Weld and Molycorp Mountain Pass projects.

• Reduction of Dy used in FeNdB magnet will be enhanced. Timely, compact, inexpensive projects for HREE are desired.