Primary and secondary sources of rare earths in the EU-28: results of the ASTER project

Dominique Guyonnet (1) , Mariane Planchon (2) , Alain Rollat (3) , Victoire Escalon (2) , Stéphane Vaxelaire (1) , Johann Tuduri (1)

1 BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)
2 BIO Intelligence Service
3 Rhodia-Solvay

The ASTER project aims at establishing flows and stocks of certain critical rare earth elements at the scale of the EU-28, considering both primary and secondary sources. Material flow analyses were performed taking into account processes along the value chain (separation, manufacture, use, waste management) and including also lithospheric (geologic) stocks. While this paper focuses on fluorescent lamp phosphors (Tb, Eu, Y), a paper by Planchon et al. (this conference) addresses permanent magnets and batteries (Nd, Pr, Dy). Results suggest that given the magnitude of flows in the EU-28, the development of a mining project in Sweden and/or Greenland would contribute significantly to reducing heavy rare earth; e.g. Tb, criticality.

Keywords: Rare earths; material flow analysis; phosphors

Domains: Environmental Engineering

Dominique Guyonnet, Mariane Planchon, Alain Rollat, Victoire Escalon, Stéphane Vaxelaire, et al.. Primary and secondary sources of rare earths in the EU-28: results of the ASTER project. ERES 2014 - 1st conference on European Rare Earth Resources, Sep 2014, Milos, Greece. ⟨hal-01019602⟩