Queensland’s rare earth deposits lie close to the surface and suit newly developed, more environmentally friendly processing, James Cook University research has found.

The multi-disciplinary JCU team published its findings in the journal Minerals Engineering. The paper mapped Queensland’s rare earth element (REE) resources and tested more sustainable ways to extract them.

Rare earth elements are a group of 17 critical minerals used in defence, electronics, transport and medical applications. The researchers described them as essential to clean-energy technology.

“REE are a group of 17 chemical elements with great optical and magnetic properties,” said the paper’s first author, JCU chemical engineering lecturer Dr Rosilene Welter. “We can apply them in a broad range of technologies. Things like cell phones, batteries, GPS and satellites … even MRI medical equipment needs REEs.”

The research identified Queensland as a hotspot for REE resources, describing its deposits as abundant, near-surface and easily accessible.

Queensland’s REE deposits held 4% of total global reserves, the researchers found. They included ore bodies in the Hughenden Basin, between Townsville and Mt Isa, and the Georgina Basin in the state’s northwest.

The elements were also abundant in old mine tailings dams, such as those left by past uranium mining at Mary Kathleen, (main image – courtesy of JCU) west of Cloncurry. Dr Welter said those resources were more easily extracted because the digging and crushing had already been done.

Global rare earth production has risen 175% over 20 years to an $8 billion industry. China holds 90% of refining capacity.

“While we dig up the ore, most of it is exported for refining overseas and there is limited domestic value-adding or Australian product manufacturing,” Dr Welter said. “Today, only one percent of the global downstream REE market is based in Australia.”

She said countries currently producing REE, such as Myanmar, did not have Australia’s environmental regulations. They could purify the minerals with strong acids at low cost, but with high environmental impact.

Queensland was estimated to host about half of Australia’s REE reserves. The JCU team was developing greener solvents to extract and purify the elements, funded through the Australian Government’s $370 million Critical Minerals Trailblazer Program.

“Queensland has a strong background in mining … we have the equipment and the know-how,” Dr Welter said. “Our intention is to develop something that’s straightforward but also aligns with the environmental legislation that we have in Queensland … That way our research will translate into something good for the community, good for Queensland and good for Australia.”