Processes for recovering rare earth elements and rare metals

摘要

There are provided processes for recovering at least one rare earth element. Such processes comprise obtaining an acidic composition comprising (i) at least one rare earth element and optionally at least one rare metal; and reacting the composition with a precipitating agent so as to substantially selectively precipitate a first rare earth element and optionally a first rare metal. For example, various rare earth elements (such as scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, etc) and various rare metals (such as indium, zirconium, lithium, gallium, etc.) can be extracted by using such processes.