The Materials Atlas

Rare Earths (all) · primary Cerium · co-product Lanthanum · co-product Neodymium · co-product Praseodymium · co-product

この場所が何であるか

Mountain Pass supplied most of the world's rare earths in the 1960s-80s, closed under environmental and price pressure, and reopened — the clearest single illustration of how supply chains move and how hard they are to move back.

品位 High-grade bastnäsite carbonatite, low in thorium relative to monazite ores.

A carbonatite, in cross-section

A rare kind of magma made mostly of carbonate rather than silicate rises as a near-vertical pipe from deep in the mantle. It carries rare earths, niobium and phosphate with it. Where the top of the pipe has been weathered, the ore is already concentrated before anyone touches it. Schematic. Pipes are typically 1–5 km across at surface and continue for kilometres down. Original diagram, The Materials Atlas.

「品位」とは、岩石中に含まれる有用成分の割合のことです。品位0.5%の銅鉱山では、銅1トンを出荷するために199トンの岩石を捨てることになります。この一つの数値が、ある鉱体が鉱山になるか、単なる地質学的な興味の対象にとどまるかを決定します。

産出物

Rare Earths (all)

A family of seventeen metals that are not actually rare in the ground, but are hard to separate from each other…

Primary

Cerium

The most abundant rare earth — more common in the crust than copper — mostly used as a polishing powder and in…

Co-productCe

Lanthanum

The first of the rare earths, used by the tonne in the catalysts that crack crude oil into petrol.

Co-productLa

Neodymium

The rare earth at the heart of the strongest magnet ever made — the kind in headphones, hard drives, wind turbines…

Co-productNd

Praseodymium

Neodymium's near-twin, so alike that magnet makers usually do not bother separating the two and sell them together as…

Co-productPr

「副産物」とは、意図して探したわけではなく、たまたま同じ岩石中に含まれていたために回収される金属のことだ。したがってその供給量は、当該金属自身の需給ではなく、主要金属の経済性に左右される。

所有者

企業	役割	関心度
MP Materials	Miner	Owner-operator

事業者の公表情報に基づく。大規模鉱山の所有権は変動するため、利用前に最新の企業開示資料で確認すること。

Mountain Pass