Market analysis of rare earth elements

Abstract

Having provided the main technical foundations of wind turbines in Chapter 2, we subsequently proceed to analysing the particularities of the market for rare earth elements (REEs) since they are among the most vulnerable materials.

First of all, the term “rare earth elements” has to be clarified. It is actually a misleading name (Angerer et al. 2009) because the elements belonging to this group are quite abundant in the earth’s crust; however, they generally occur in such small concentrations that most deposits are not worth mining solely for their REE content (Cordier 2011a,b; Haxel et al. 2002). Within ore deposits, REEs tend to occur as compounds (Liedtke and Elsner 2009).