Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Metallurgical Wastes

Abstract

The metallurgical wastes from ferrous and nonferrous industries contain several valuable base, rare and rare earths elements. The common of these are red mud, fly ash, steel slag, and other which are mostly dumped or still demanding huge consumption. This chapter presents works carried out globally and the various features of the wastes that make them suitable for rare earth extraction. Several processing options used globally to treat such discarded materials are presented in vogue. This chapter also addresses the demerits of waste disposal, world distribution of such resources and the current operations to tackle these wastes in the pursuit of value recovery.