Investors rush into rare earth element mining
Publisher: CBC News
The rush is on to find deposits of rare earth elements (REEs), critical components of materials used in the defence, electronics and other key industries.
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Mercenary Radio Rare Earths
Periodic Table of the Elements (Mendeleev's Table). Chemically, the rare-earth elements (REE's), also known as the Lanthanoids (or Lanthanides), are only those that are shown along the upper of the two rows at the bottom of the table. They range in atomic number from 51 (La, lanthanum) to 71 (Lu, lutetium). All occur in nature except promethium (Pm), which is manmade.
The light REE's comprise lanthanum through gadolinium (Gd). The heavy REE's comprise terbium (Tb) through lutetium. Yttrium (Y) and scandium (Sc) products are often sold by suppliers of REE's because their properties are similar, hence, they are commercially included with the REE's. In nature, yttrium generally occurs with the heavy REE's and is used in exploration as an indicator element in the search for "heavies" deposits.
