CBMM to produce rare earths from niobium tailings

Brazilian miner CBMM announced on Tuesday it began producing refined concentrates of rare earth metals at its plant in Araxá, in Minas Gerais state. The miner is the world’s top niobium producer and will extract rare earths from niobium tailings, reaching 3,000 tonnes of concentrate a year.

From these tailings, CBMM will produce double sulfates and hydroxides of metals such as neodymium and praseodymium, a first in Brazil. “The big obstacle was getting here [the technology to produce sulfates and hydroxides]. From now on is a well-known, published technology”, said Tadeu Carneiro, general director at CBMM, adding that the production of rare earths as a byproduct of niobium mining is being done for the first time in the world.