Mountain Pass rare earth mine

The Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine is an open-pit mine of rare earth elements (REEs) on the south flank of the Clark Mountain Range, just north of the unincorporated community of Mountain Pass, California, United States. The mine, owned by Molycorp Inc., once supplied most of the world's rare earth elements.The Mountain Pass deposit contains 8 % to 12% rare earth oxides, mostly contained in the mineral bastnäsite. Gangue minerals include calcite, barite, and dolomite.

The Mountain Pass deposit was discovered by a uranium, thorium and radium.

It is regarded as a world-class rare-earth mineral deposit.

The metals that can be extracted from it include: cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, europium.

The bastnäsite ore was finely ground, and subjected to froth flotation to separate the bulk of the bastnäsite from the accompanying barite, calcite, and dolomite. Marketable products include each of the major intermediates of the ore dressing process: flotation concentrate, acid-washed flotation concentrate, calcined acid-washed bastnäsite, and finally a cerium concentrate, which was the insoluble residue left after the calcined bastnäsite had been leached with hydrochloric acid.

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Pass_rare_earth_mine

3. http://www.molycorp.com/about-us/our-facilities/molycorp-mountain-pass/

4. J.H.L. Voncken. The rare earth elements. An introduction. 2016

5. http://www.coloradomining.org/Content/Programs_pdf/M%20Smith.pdf

6. http://www.1zoom.me/fr/wallpaper/341670/z2006.2/

7. http://bestwallpictures.com/?p=1794