A comparative study of the different mining and separating technologies of ion-absorbed rare earth from the perspective of production costs

Ion-absorbed rare earth deposits mining and separating technologies has gone through three stages, tank leaching, heap leaching and in -situ leaching. Due to the requirements for resource benefits and environment protection, in -situ leaching is practiced rather than tank leaching and heap leaching. We think there are small differences in the aspect of accounting costs of the three technologies by comparing their accounting costs and environmental treatment costs based on the characteristics, geological conditions, basic principles, advantages and disadvantages of the three processes. The production cost is the highest for the in-situ leaching if the geological conditions are complicated. Some related proposals are put forward, including the selection of ion-absorbed rare earth deposits mining and separating process should be adapted to local conditions.