Rare Earth Elements - UPSC Current Affairs

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Context

Scientists at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research facility in Hyderabad, have reported the presence of lucrative rare-earth elements (REEs) in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh.

RARE EARTH ELEMENTS:

https://www.google.com/search?q=RARE+earth+elements+IASGYAN&oq=RARE+earth+elements+IASGYAN&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i13i15i30j0i22i30j0i15i22i30j0i22i30l3j0i15i22i30j0i8i13i30j0i390i650.3076j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

RARE EARTH METALS AND MINERAL SECURITY PARTNERSHIP: https://iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/rare-earth-metals-and-minerals-security-partnership-msp

Trivia

Rare Earth Elements: 15 Lanthanides + Yttrium and Scandium

Rare Earth Metals are a family of 17 elements in the periodic table, which involve 15 Lanthanides group elements, along with Yttrium and Scandium.

Discovery

They were discovered in 18th-19th century, with Yttrium being the first and Promethium the last discovered rare earth element.’

Forms of REE

These elements are divided into two forms: Heavy and Light Rare Earth Elements.
Light rare earth elements are uncritical being abundantly available, while heavy elements are more critical due to their high demand and less availability.
Among LREEs, Neodymium is the most critical one as it is extensively used in all mobile phones, medical equipment and electric vehicles. It is important for the manufacturing of permanent magnets that are used in wind turbines and data storage systems.
The heavy elements like, dysprosium, yttrium and cerium are critical for clean energy technologies, however, due to their limited supply, they have a small market.

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q. Despite having a rich deposit of monazite, India is 100 percent import-dependent for its rare earth supplies due to its mining being restricted to public sector undertakings (PSUs). The reforms in the Indian mining and downstream sector of critical minerals can boost not only it’s domestic high-tech manufacturing but also its green future goals. Comment.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/csir-scientists-identify-rare-earth-element-deposit-in-anantapur/article66714105.ece