Research frontiers in exploitation and utilization of rare earth mineral resources in the deep-sea sediments

With the increasing demand of the rare earth resources for the development of human society, rare earth resources in deep-sea sediments have gradually attracted the attention from all countries because of their abundant reserves. Rare earth elements and yttrium (REY) in the deep-sea sediment is a new type of marine mineral resource rich in middle-heavy rare earth discovered in recent years. In the last decade, we have seen a number of basic researches on enrichment feature, distribution pattern, occurrence state, and ore-forming process of rare earth from the deep-sea sediments. However, due to many technical problems and unknown factors in mining equipment, environmental protection, market revenue etc, the commercial development and utilization cannot be realized, which in turn preclude the efficient and industrial extravagation of these rare earth mineral resources from the deep-sea sediments. We summarized the research status and key problems of deep-sea rare earth mineral resources, focused on the prospect and feasibility in the advanced layout of industrialization in China, and put forward some constructive countermeasures and suggestions for industrialization exploitation and utilization in the future. It is necessary to continue to increase the basic research work, upgrade the whole rare earth industrial chain in China to strengthen the layout and the integrated development, develop new concepts of deep-sea green mining, and improve China's voice in the field of international deep-sea resource exploration and development.