14 The Ra r e E a r t hs Val u e Chai n G r o und t o Mar ke t REEs ar e p rin cip all y f o u n d i n c arb o n atit es which are i g n eo u s r o cks c o m p risi n g m o re than 5 0 carb o n a te m in erals L ess im p o rtan t s o u rces are sec o n d ary depo si ts which f o r m when rar e e arth and heav y m in eral s are c o n c entrat ed by the p h y sical we ath erin g o f pri m ary m in er ali z atio n M o s t RE E m in es p r o d u ce o n ly REEs alth o u g h t h ere ar e a fe w where RE Es are p r o d u ced as a b y p ro d u ct M o s t u se larg e scal e t echn i q u es in v o lving dri ll in g bla sting and hau li n g Sep aratio n o f t h e o r e fr o m t h e wast e is carri ed o u t in a v ar iety o f way s The pro d u cti o n pro ces s is qu it e in v o lv ed as o n e rare ea rth m in eral m a y c o n tain up t o 1 7 d iff erent ele m ent s w h ic h m u st b e separ ate d fr o m o n e an o ther The fo ll o wing dia g ram sum m ari z es the basi c st eps o f m in in g and pro ces sin g RE E REE Pri ci ng P rices increas ed dr a m atical ly in 2 0 1 0 f o ll o wing Chi n as decisio n t o re d u c e ex p o rts This led t o r edu ced d em an d w h i ch in t u rn re st o red p rici n g s tabi li ty As t h e w o rld rac es t o s ecure RE E sup p ly o u tside o f Ch in a futu re p rici n g pro jec tio n s ind icat e a str o n g m ar ke t sus tain ed by gro wing dem an d k g RE E 2 0 0 9 N o v 2 0 1 1 J a n 2 5 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 2 E L an than u m 6 60 62 17 Ceriu m 4 55 1 0 0 29 P rase o d y m iu m 16 60 2 5 0 1 5 0 N eo d y m iu m 16 2 3 5 2 9 5 1 5 4 Sa m ari u m 5 87 1 5 0 32 D y spr o siu m 1 0 7 2 0 0 0 2 6 0 0 6 8 8 Eur o p iu m 4 7 3 4 0 0 0 3 8 5 0 1 3 9 3 C IB C W o r ld Ma r ke ts