By Girish Linganna

Mar 20: Rare Earth Metals, a group of 17 chemical elements on the periodic table, are crucial for driving economic development and ensuring national security for a country.

Additionally, this set of Rare Earth Metals can have an impact on global politics.

Defence.Capital, a media house, reports that despite the implication of scarcity in their name, Rare Earth Metals (REMs) are in fact quite plentiful in the Earth's crust. The challenge and expense lie not in their abundance but in the complex and costly process of extraction and enrichment, which contributes to their relative rarity and high costs.

Rare Earth Metals are classified into two categories: heavy and light Rare Earth minerals.

Elements like Yttrium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, and Lutetium belong to the category of heavy rare earths.The primary suppliers of heavy Rare Earth Metals are mines located in Myanmar and China.

Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, and Samarium are classified as light Rare Earth Metals and are primarily sourced from northern China.

Rare Earth Metals are essential and strategically vital due to their diverse uses in catalysts, glassmaking, wind turbines, lasers, atomic batteries, fiber optics, defense equipment, space satellites, nuclear energy, optical devices, automobiles, electronic chips, diode-pumped solid-state lasers, and power generation.

As REMs have increasingly been incorporated into strategic and high-tech industries, the global demand for these elements has significantly increased. Advanced technologies also rely on REMs for their exceptional chemical, electrical, magnetic, heat-resistant, spectroscopic, and phosphorescent properties, which provide enhanced performance and strength characteristics.

Within the defense sector, some of these crucial metals are utilized extensively in the development of cutting-edge military systems, such as night-vision and electro-optical sensors, precision-guided munitions, communication systems, Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment, radar components, and other essential defense electronics.

REM's are essential in developing highly durable and specialized alloys that are utilized in military aircraft, armored vehicles, jet engines, and projectiles. These irreplaceable REMs are ideally suited for advanced commercial and military systems of the future.

Cutting-edge military equipment like fifth-generation fighter aircraft, nuclear-armed submarines, warships, guided missiles, and EO-IR sensors incorporate substantial amounts of REMs. For instance, modern stealth fighter jets may require between 400 to 450 kilograms of REMs, while a nuclear-powered submarine could utilize up to approximately five tons of Rare Earths.

India's Rare Earth Metals (REMs) Supply and Demand:

At present, more than 95% of India's rare earths are imported from China, Hong Kong, and South Africa. While these imports are currently minimal, they have the potential for growth in the future, as the use of REMs is significant in both traditional and alternative energy sources, such as India's three-stage nuclear energy program.

Moreover, with the rapid growth of India's manufacturing industry, including the production of high-tech devices, heavy machinery, and medical equipment, the demand for these critical rare metals is expected to increase significantly in the coming years.

During the 1950s, India was considered a major hub for rare earths. However, despite having substantial reserves, India did not effectively harness its rare earth sector, primarily due to a lack of government attention, adequate mining expertise, and industry development.

India's standing in the global rare earth metals extraction sector is even more lacking than previously assessed by government agencies. The Indian rare earths industry holds significant potential in terms of REMs reserves, with estimated revenue potential of approximately $15 billion per year.

India boasts a significant reserve of nearly 6.9 million metric tonnes of rare earths, which includes substantial deposits of key rare elements like Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Samarium, Gadolinium, Yttrium, and Dysprosium.

However, its production capacity is severely lacking at only 1,800 metric tonnes per year out of the 170,000 metric tonnes of global REMs production, accounting for just 1% of the worldwide output.

India also possesses around 35% of the worldwide beach sand minerals deposits, which contain abundant sources of Rare Earth metals such as Titanium, Zirconium, Thorium, and Phosphate of Rare Earths, including Monazite, Garnet, Zircon, Rutile, Sillimanite, and Ilmenite.As per the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration & Research (AMDER), India possesses more than one billion tons of these rare metals.

At present, Monazite is a primary source of light REMs, making up approximately 60% of its composition. Additionally, Monazite contains oxides of Thorium, Uranium, Silicon, Aluminum, Titanium, and Zirconium.

Monazite is the sole deposit that includes Thorium as a component, and India possesses more than 10 million tons of Monazite deposits. Currently, Japan imports Monazite from India to obtain Dysprosium, which is utilized in NdFeB (Neodymium) magnets for its exceptional properties.

The Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), a Mini-Ratna (Category I) public sector enterprise, along with the Uranium Extraction Division of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, has authority over India's rare earth resources and is responsible for the mining and processing of these rare earth metals.

The company can achieve economic gains by extracting materials such as Dysprosium and Thorium from Monazite, producing highly pure Dysprosium for the global market, and utilizing Thorium for India's future nuclear energy initiatives to decrease carbon emissions.

However, the company has not experienced significant success thus far. In addition to Monazite, India is also exploring the production of Zirconium and Titanium-based alloys, as the country holds extensive reserves of Titanium and Zirconium in the form of beach sand minerals.

Zirconium sponge is utilized in the construction of nuclear-grade Zirconium alloy, which is used in the production of nuclear fuel assemblies. Similarly, high-quality Titanium alloy is essential for a range of crucial military systems such as missiles, combat jets, warships, and submarines due to its superior strength and lightweight properties.

India has acquired expertise in Samarium-cobalt magnets through significant research and development initiatives. Additionally, BARC is close to finalizing a cost-efficient technology for producing Sm-Co (Samarium-Cobalt) magnets. In 2018, IREL initiated a project to establish a 3,000 kg Sm-Co magnets production unit.

In addition, two key organizations engaged in exploration activities in India concerning Rare Earth Metals are the Atomic Minerals Division (AMD) under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Geological Survey of India (GSI).

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) collaborated to establish a joint venture aimed at creating permanent magnets for deployment in Indian rockets and satellites.

Presently, India's capabilities are confined to extracting Neodymium. Nonetheless, by employing a strategic approach, India has the potential to gain access to Tokyo's knowledge in manufacturing NdFeB magnets through a barter of raw materials.

In 2014, IREL and Toyota Tsusho Exploration from Japan formed a partnership to investigate and extract Rare Earth Metals (REMs) through deep-sea mining activities. However, this agreement has yet to yield significant results.Toyotsu Rare Earths India, which is a subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho, acquires certain rare earths from IREL and exports the refined metals to international markets, including Japan, the US, and Europe.

Additionally, in a recent development, three Indian government entities — National Aluminum Company Limited (NALCO), Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL), and Minerals Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) — joined forces to create a new venture called Khanij Bidesh India Limited. This joint venture aims to explore, procure, and process strategic rare earth metals, focusing mainly on Latin American nations.

This initiative, aside from its strategic benefits, will certainly boost India's Electric Vehicles (EV) mission for 2030. To achieve this, India requires a comprehensive national strategy for the exploration, extraction, and valorization of these rare earth metals.

The combination of investments, market potential, and India's vast raw material reserves renders Research & Development in this area a highly lucrative endeavor. It is poised to accelerate the advancement of a wide array of strategic high-tech products and industries.

According to Defence.Capital, a media outlet, the market for rare earths is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 8% during the forecast period of 2019 to 2024. The outlet emphasizes that through investments in domestic research and development, coupled with adequate financial support for the production of Rare Earth Metals (REMs), there is an opportunity to develop a strong industry ecosystem for rare earths that functions independently from foreign technology. Furthermore, Defence.Capital points out the necessity for the government to create a reliable framework and leverage its extensive knowledge within this sector.

(The author Girish Linganna of this article is a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bengaluru. He is also Director of ADD Engineering Components, India, Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany. You can reach out to him at: girishlinganna@gmail.com)