Bacteria-assisted Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Eudialyte Ore

Abstract

The rare earth elements (REE) are among the most critical minerals needed to secure our energy, transportation, and technological future. For several decades, the production and processing of REE ores has been dominated by China, creating a geopolitical bottleneck forseveral products including wind turbines, batteries, electric vehicles, laptops, cell phones, andmore. The most common REE ore minerals also contain abundant radioactive elements suchas thorium and uranium that makes the processing of these ores environmentally problematicand costly.
Here, we explore an alternative natural ore of REEs: the mineral eudialyte. Found in well- documented igneous rocks, eudialyte occurs across broad geographical distribution, including in Quebec, Greenland, and Sweden. While rich in REE, it is comparatively low in radioactive byproducts, making it a very attractive primary ore source. And yet, eudialyte-rich ore depositsremain largely untapped. The reason is that industrial-scale processing of this mineral hasproven difficult due to technical challenges including silica gel formation during dissolution. We will experimentally investigate the use of certain bacteria in the dissolution of eudialyte tocircumvent the “silica gel problem” and facilitate sustainable, environmentally friendly,processing of eudialyte for REEs.