Very comprehensive article on REE processing. Not a good read...

Very comprehensive article on REE processing.

Not a good read for BRE's monazite sand deposit although the grades might pay for the high cost processing:

"There is not yet a way of removing U and Th from monazite-containing mineral concentrates because the monazite must first be chemically “cracked.”":


Processing the ores of rare-earth elements

Published: 21 March 2022

"While extractive metallurgical processing of ores is influenced and complicated by the similar chemical properties of REE species, refining is made easier by the rather broad variations in physical properties. Naturally, the best way to minimize the impurity problem is to avoid contamination at the outset."

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1557/s43577-022-00288-4