Life cycle assessment of rare earths and niobium concentrate co-recovery from phosphate flotation tailings: case of a Finnish fluorapatite deposit.

Co-recovery of rare earths and niobium from phosphate tailings reduces overall climate impacts by 79.1 kg CO2 eq. compared to primary resource mining.

• Why it matters: Securing critical metals like REEs and niobium is essential due to supply risks driven by geopolitical and concentrated production factors, highlighting the importance of secondary resource utilization.
• What they did: A life cycle assessment was conducted on the reprocessing of phosphate tailings from a Finnish fluorapatite deposit, modeling emissions from mining, reprocessing, and tailings disposal, including metal leaching data.
• The result: Reprocessing tailings increases climate impact by 13.04 kg CO2 eq., with tailings disposal identified as a hotspot for ecotoxicity and human toxicity, emphasizing waste reduction to mitigate environmental harm.