Business
Jamaica launches rare earth metals project
Jamaican and Japanese officials on Monday launched a pilot project designed to investigate whether rare earth elements can be commercially extracted from the island’s bauxite waste.
Researchers with Japan’s Nippon Light Metal Co. Ltd. believe they have found high concentrations of rare earth elements in the island’s red mud, a byproduct of bauxite refining into alumina, the basic material for manufacturing aluminum.
During the pilot project, researchers from the two countries will treat some 30 tons of dry red mud with acid to potentially extract some of the 17 rare earth elements that are vital in manufacturing smartphones, plasma screens, wind turbines, satellites and numerous other high-tech products.
In Jamaica, hopes are soaring that the pilot project at the Jamaica Bauxite Institute’s headquarters could result in a commercial deal to extract rare earth oxides from the red waste stored in containment ponds around mining grounds.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller said that if the joint venture proves viable, it could be among the most “significant projects ever undertaken in Jamaica.”
“This project represents the kind of industrial diversification that this country needs it if is to realize its economic potential and improve living standards for our people,” Simpson-Miller told business people, Jamaican and Japanese officials and scientists.
Parris Lyew-Ayee, chairman of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute, said he believes that that since Jamaica’s dry red mud deposits are stored in containment ponds he believes it will be simple and safe to harvest.
