Get Closer to Rare Earth Elements

Rare Earth Elements (REE) or in Bahasa called Logam Tanah Jarang (LTJ) are the earth elements with unique properties that have been used in many high-tech applications. The demand for REE rapidly increased due to its special properties. As defined by IUPAC, REE consist of 17 elements. They are 15 lanthanides from Lanthanum (La), Cerium (Ce), Praseodymium (Pr), Neodymium (Nd), Promethium (Pm), Samarium (Sm), Europium (Eu), Gadolinium (Gd), Terbium (Tb), Dysprosium (Dy), Holmium (Ho), Erbium (Er), Thulium (Tm), Ytterbium (Yb), Lutetium (Lu), with Scandium (Sc) and Yttrium (Y). Despite its name, REE is not very rare in crustal composition. Although each element has a different abundance in the earth's crust, the most abundant element (cerium) has a concentration more than copper.

REE was used in many applications and it becomes a high choice in industry technology developments nowadays. REE capitalize roles in the high-tech industry that can' be replaced with any other elements. Take an example, europium as a red phosphor in television that does not have any substitute. Although REE used is in small, lightweight, high-strength magnet, but they don't have any effective substitute to be replaced as REE components. For further, REE also involves in the development of Lithium-ion batteries. The biggest producer of REE belongs to China. It has nearly 97% of REE world supply and still dominated the market. How about Indonesia? Fortunately, we also join this trend and search for REE mines prospect. REE can be found in many parts of Indonesia, namely Tin Island, Sumatera, and Kalimantan that occurred in both placer and granitic rocks. This gift will be a great modal for Indonesia to lead high-tech development.

Date : 28 April 2021
Written by : NBRI
 
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