KNOWN as technology’s seed and technological metal, rare earth elements play a prominent role in the industrial transformation. These elements are among the components of numerous revolutionary technological developments ranging from renewable energy to the pharmaceutical industry, defence systems to telecommunication. Rare earth elements are critical for many technological products that are indispensable in daily life, such as mobile phones and computers. The fight against climate change, clean energy, and electric vehicles in transport also enhance their importance.

STRATEGIC INDUSTRIES

Rare earth elements are also key components of the strategic defence industry, such as precision-guided munition, unmanned air vehicles, and satellites. They are also actively used in aircraft such as the fifth generation F-35 manufactured with stealth technology. Within the global procurement chain, China extracts 63% of the rare earth elements while it controls 85% of the ore processing. This indicates the dependence of most of the countries and industries in China on rare earth elements. China’s monopolistic power in this area has exponentially increased the need for an alternative procurer. The World’s largest deposits of rare earth metals are in Bayan Obo in China, a mining district with 800 million tons of reserves.

A RESERVE IN ESKISEHIR

Türkiye launched site operations in the rare earth elements deposit discovered in 2011 in Beylikova in Eskişehir province. A drilling operation was conducted on 125 thousand 193 meters, and 59 thousand 121 samples were collected from the site. In 2022, it was declared that

694 million tons of rare earth metals were discovered in the analyses. The miningpilot deposit in Eskişehir is considered the world’s second-largest rare earth elements site. The pilot plant, with a yearly ore dressing capacity of 1200 tons, started to operate in 2023 in Beylikova. After the establishment of the plant, the target is to build a large industrial plant that processes 570 thousand tons of ore and generates 10 thousand rare earth oxides, 72 thousand tons of fluorides, 70 thousand tons of barite and 250 tons of thorium. Upon launching such an industrial plant, Türkiye will be one of the five countries that generate end products with high added value and become a prominent global supplier.

MUNTEAM LABORATORY

The recent step to this end has been the project ‘Enhancing the Rare Earth Elements (REEs) Research and Innovation Capacity of Türkiye’, which was realised as part of the Competitive Sectors Program supported by the European Union (EU). The project is worth 14 million Euros and provides an integrative approach to establishing Türkiye’s supply security. An advanced laboratory was established under the Munzur University Rare Earth Elements Application and Research Center (MUNTEAM). The high-technology equipment will be gathered with qualified human resources to enhance Türkiye’s capacity to manufacture and develop products with high-added value based on rare earth elements. Moreover, the cooperation of the public bodies, universities and industry will be increased to transform the R&D and production capacity into economic value through multi-dimensional activities.

RECYCLING PLANT

A pilot recycling plant will be established within the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) under the project ‘Enhancing the Rare Earth Elements (REEs) Research and Innovation Capacity of Türkiye.’ This plant will enable the acquisition of rare earth metals through environmentally friendly methods, and in this way, considering the high-quality testing and analysis infrastructure of the plant, MTA shall fulfil rare earth element requirements. The accreditation application process to enable global-scale activities of MTA and MUNTEAM laboratories will be supported in the upcoming period. This project to cover Türkiye’s strategic demands in its quest towards technology-based development is also prominent with respect to its contribution to the European Union’s Green Deal and critical raw material demands.

Türkiye at the Minerals Security Partnership Forum

Aiming to strengthen global cooperation in rare earth elements, Türkiye attended the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) Forum led by the USA and the European Union (EU). Türkiye’s participation in the forum was declared at the MSP meeting held during the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week and NYC Climate Week. Along with Türkiye, countries including Argentina, Ecuador, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, Greenland, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Namibia, Peru, the Phillippines, Serbia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Zambia attended to the partnership with 15 members. MSP Forum is held within the scope of the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act, acknowledged in March 2023. EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act indicates the need for a more diverse and sustainable raw material supply chain through new global and mutually supportive partnerships.

A broad scope of industrial utilization

Rare earth elements are utilized by industrial production in the following areas:

Catalyst: Advanced water treatment, emission control, fluid cracking catalyst.

Ceramics: Aluminum nitrate, capacitor, oxygen sensors, PTC thermistor, silicon nitride, synthetic rocks, thermal plating, zirconium nitride.

Electronics: Global positioning system, aviation technology, guidance and control systems, hard disks, tablet computers, neutron radiography, night vision equipment, smartphones.

Energy: High-temperature super conductive, hydrogen storage alloys, nuclear energy, solid oxide fuel cells, wind turbines.

Glass: Painting, bleaching - discolouration, screen, waxing.

Magnetism: Magnetic, optical disks, magnetic optic disks, magnetostrictive transducer, permanent magnets.

Pharmaceutical products: Contrast agents for MR, medical devices, and scintillators for X-ray CT.

Metallurgy: Components for the iron and steel industry, hybrid vehicles, and superalloys.

Optics: Electroluminescence, fluorescent lamp, light-emitting diodes (LED), metal halide lamp, optical fibre, optical lens, solid-state laser fibre, X-ray intensifying screens.