The Rare Earth (RE) resources in India are reported to be the fifth largest in the world.
- Indian resource is significantly lean w.r.t. grade and it is tied with radioactivity making the extraction long, complex and expensive.
- Indian resource contain Light Rare Earth Elements (LREE) while Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE) are not available in extractable quantities.
- More than 80 % of the usage of rare earths in value terms is in RE permanent magnets which require Magnetic REE i.e. Neodymium, Praseodymium, Dysprosium and Terbium. These are precious REE since they find use in energy transition initiatives.
- High value REE are Dysprosium and Terbium which are not available in extractable quantities in Indian reserves already under exploitation.
- In Indian deposits, only Neodymium and Praseodymium are available and are being extracted upto 99.9 % purity level.
