Geochemistry of Rare Earth and Trace Elements in Rare Earth Concentrate from Sichuan Province and the Significance of the Exploitation and Utilization

Sichuan Province is one of the most important provinces in China for light rare earth element (LREE) resources, where has been produced a large amount of rare earth concentrate in the past 20 years. Rare earth elements ΣREEs) and other useful elements in rare earth concentrates are very important for resource evaluation and enterprise survival. In this paper, geochemistry of rare earth elements (REEs) and trace elements in samples from the A, B and C REE deposits has been studied. The results show that the content of REEs and trace elements in rare earth concentrate samples are changed in different deposit, enterprise and different mineral dressing process. The lowest level of ΣREEs is from A (ΣREEs=41.96%), the highest level is from C (ΣREEs=55.83%). ΣREEs of magnetic concentrate (ΣREEs=49.96%) is higher than flotation concentrate (ΣREEs=41.57%), and ΣREEs from Jia Company (ΣREEs=48.35%) is higher than from Yi Company (ΣREEs=42.92%). The REE distribution patterns of concentrate sample are inherited from rare earth ores while Tb and Yb are depleted, indicating that the mineral dressing process may lead to loss of these elements. REEs are enriched in concentrate sample, and Mo, Bi, Pb, Ga, Th, U, W are also enriched. Especially, Mo and Ga are in cut-off grade. These results indicate that it is necessary to increase REE grade of rare earth concentrate, and to take appropriate measures to reclaim higher concentration elements.