ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has sizable deposits of Cerium – an important industrial Mineral widely used in the manufacturing of daily use items and other products of importance. However, these deposits have yet to be exploited officially.
In the fiscal year 2020-2021, Pakistan imported USD82k worth of cerium while USD5k worth of this rare earth metal was exported.
Assistant Director Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) Yasir Shaheen Khalil said, “Cerium is the most abundant of the rare earth elements and belongs to the lanthanides group of 15 metallic chemical elements. It is mainly extracted from the major lanthanide ores but can also be extracted from perovskite and allanite, to get a viable quantity. Perovskite is an oxide mineral ore of cerium containing calcium and titanium. Allanite is a silicate ore mineral of rare earth including cerium.’’
Yasir said cerium was mostly extracted from granitoid and alkaline rocks, etc. It is also an associated mineral of titanium, allanite, etc. In Pakistan, alkaline rocks are found in ‘Peshawar plain alkaline and igneous province (geological name)’. This province extends 650kms stretching from Mansehra, Tarbela, Swabi, Buner, Malakand, Bajaur, Warsak, up to Khyber district. This area is also rich in both cerium and bastnaesite.
Cerium is used in the manufacture of fiberglass, glass, LEDs, computers.
It is also used as a core for the carbon electrodes of arc lamps and for incandescent mantles for gas lighting.
It is also used in aluminium and steel alloys, in stainless steel as a precipitation hardening agent, in manufacture of permanent magnets, magnetic optic compact discs, chromium planting, glass polishing, fluorescent lamps, energy saving lamps, and Catalytic oven. Cerium salt stimulates metabolism but its inhalation with air or long-term exposure can be toxic causing lung embolisms, liver disturbance, etc.
The global market size of cerium was valued at USD253.4 million by taking 2020 as a base year and was expected to grow at the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.8% by the year 2028. Cerium extraction by using local sources is very important for Pakistan. The country’s own sources are enough to meet not only the domestic need, but the excess can be exported as well. –INP
