Geologist D.Garamjav: China Supplies 70-80 percent of Global Demand of Rare Earth Elements

You have worked in the copper field for more than 30 years. Many know you as the “copper geologist“. What lead you to work in REE?

In 1982, while observing satellite images together with professor Jamsran and Chagnaadorj, we noticed something like wind cyclone in southern Mongolia. J. Gurragchaa went into the space in March 1982 and brought back and gave to our institute black and white satellite images at scale 1:1000000, covering the whole of Mongolia. On those images, our Khanbogd massif showed a whirling structure which looked like a whirling galaxy. In geology we call it a ring structure.

This term was first introduced into geology by a Chinese geologist, an academician Li Xi Guan. After he died, his daughter actually announced that this academician was of Mongol origin. So somebody of Mongol origin identified these structures first and introduced it into the world geological science. He studied similar structures in north-western China. His studies were global studies and within those studies he identified and depicted those structures.
So what is the difference? Granite rocks can be deposited in 20-30 km depths. If the granite is still hot and is not solidified yet and purges out into the surface, then you get volcano. If the magma cools and solidifies in depth, then granite is formed, and if magma cools on the surface – you get volcanic rocks. The “whirling structures” I am talking about are formed when the magma solidifies in depth. In the case of Khanbogd, it happened 290 million years ago, at 20 km depth. Of course, 20 km is nothing compared to 290 million years: everything is weathered, transported and disappears.

Our holy noyon Danzanravjaa built his famous three monasteries of the Galbyn Gobi with the help and labour of the locals. There is no place in Gobi where Danzanravjaa hadn’t visited. It is said that he cried a great deal when he reached the northern side of the Khanbogd mountain. Then he stated that he should spend a certain period of his life here in this place. All the main materials and dye for the monastery that was built here were taken from the Oyu Tolgoi. You  must have heard what a copper deposit looks like. You have copper carbonates called malachite and azurite. One is green and the other is blue. Molybdenum oxide is a mixed yellow in colour. So these minerals combined with iron oxides make red, red-yellow and dark-brown colours.
There is a hill called Vandan Tolgoi at what is now known as the Central Oyu Tolgoi. There are a lot of oxidized minerals which were used for the monastery. The building material and bricks were prepared locally from local materials. In order to build the monastery, Danzanravjaa may have gone to the nearest town or settlement (to what is now Bayan Ovoo in Inner Mongolia) and brought back ten building specialists to help with the construction. So the story is very interesting.

All this I am telling you as a prelude to the history of Oyu Tolgoi and rare earth minerals. The reason is that the granite in this massif is alkaline, and compared to other standard granites, is very fluid. Normally granite is thick and when the magma reaches the surface it does not flow too far making the “pok-pok“ noise. Sometimes the magma pipe is even blocked by a plug. Therefore, the granite volcanoes erupt very dramatically, like the Vesuvius. When the Vesuvius exploded, several villages disappeared from the face of the earth. An 18th century famous Russian painter Andrei Burillyov had done excavations with archeologists and then painted his well-known piece called “The last night of Pompey“.

These types of fluid magmas accumulate a lot of rare earth elements. I have been interested in this fact and working on it the last 20 years. I had a break from copper and moved to studying the REE. Although it is difficult to leave the copper on which I spent 25-26 years of my research, the rare earths attracted me even stronger. That is why I studied them between 1990-1995.

Where are the REE occurrences in our country then?

The largest deposit of this kind which has been explored is called Mushgui Khudag, which is situated in Mandalgobi soum in South Gobi. Also there is the Lugin Gol deposit which is situated 140-150 km from Khanbogd and which is being explored now. REE are also found at the banks of the lake Khar Us as well as the northern shores of the lake Khyargas. Although exploration of the REE has been undertaken in Mongolia, it was not sufficient. The second Soviet expedition was exploring in the Khalzan Burgedei site, but we sent the Russians away when democracy started here. The total number of occurrences is 73. I myself was in charge of putting REE occurrences on the one-million scale map of Mongolia. It took 5 years to accomplish and both the distribution and the future potential were delineated. This meant giving some prognosis on where future occurrences or potentially interesting areas may be found. When the map was published, I was not part of the mapping team, and therefore my name is not there. All those ten or so geologists who compiled the map are put there as authors and all the others may be mentioned in the introductory notes. This is such a job that you are lucky if you are mentioned in a sentence as “he worked on the REE“.

What are the potential reserves of the rare earth elements in our country?

It is not possible to tell the reserves. The total of all the oxides of the 15 lanthanoid elements are estimated and then you come with a general number. Developed countries like Japan can do detailed analyses. Eighty per cent of all the REE needs are supplied by China. The Bayan-Uul area in Inner Mongolia, where Danzanravjaa brought the builders from to build his monastery, hosts the Bayan-Ovoo deposit which produces 70-80% of all the world REEs. So China has the major reserve and Chinese are very good in REE research. The technology to separate the oxides and produce the necessary product is very complicated. Yet, they manage to separate all the oxides one by one. The main thing though is that they keep the technology secret and confidential. That is China’s policy: you supply 70-80% of the world demand and try to keep the advantage to yourself.

We have REE occurrences and seem to have reserves, too.  Any chance of exporting the REEs?

It would be difficult to export, because we have to transport it over China. That is the reason, why we haven’t been able to explore it too much. What if we spend a lot of funds, prove huge reserves and then? Who do we sell it to? We will not use it ourselves. China will not buy it from us. Japan will buy from China and the Americans also buy from their Chinese partners. More recently, Chinese seem to be trying to make restrictions on selling to Japan which is why Japanese started having interest in exploring in Mongolia. They come and say lets have a look together and work together. But Japanese come and work and then leave again. They worked at the Tsav deposit, explored it and even made preparations for the underground mine. Unfortunately, they said it is uneconomic and left it. The area near Mushgui Khudag, the Oloon Ovoot, where Japanese worked, is being developed now by Ts. Myanganbayar of the “Mongol Gazar“. Japanese initially identified the gold area and left it, too.

Since the Japanese are “probing“ this field, may be they have some plans to work in the area in the future?

Japanese have done a lot of preliminary research. First, in 1993, they studied the REEs within so-called “Uudam Tal”project. Then, I accompanied them in the area west of Sainshand. Once they found out the location, they did not need a Mongolian any longer. Once the “Uudam Tal“ (“Wide Steppe“) project was completed, they continued with the “Altan Tal“ (“Golden Steppe“) project.

Is there a future for rare earth minerals in our country?

We can’t tell that there is no future for REE since we haven’t studied them well enough. Potential is there. First of all, we need a partner team to work and study the REEs. We need to approach the issue seriously. The current use and needs have changed and I know that professor S.Jargalan from the School of Geology studied the modern use of REE rather extensively. So I think that the future is there.

What is the price for REE compared to other metals?

The REEs are calculated in grams and tones and their price has been rather volatile. If the oxides are separated, their price is much higher than other minerals.

In 1982, while observing the satellite images together with professor Jamsran and Chagnaadorj, we noticed something like wind cyclone in southern Mongolia. J. Gurragchaa went into the space in March 1982 and brought back and gave to our institute one-to-one-million scale, black and white satellite images covering the whole of Mongolia. On those images, our Khanbogd massif showed a whirling structure which looked like a whirling galaxy. In geology we call it a ring structure.