Amidst all the noise and controversies over the Neodymium research project, presented by the company Quantum Minería to extract gray monazite from the Campo de Montiel regionin the province of Ciudad Real, it does not hurt to approach this issue with a certain perspective. From the Yes to the Living Land Platform they continue to insist on the risks of this type of work, with numerous protests and initiatives and based on a report published in the magazine on-line ‘Toxics’, which warns about the toxic effects of any of the 17 rare earth elements on human health.
Information that has recently been refuted by the company Quantum Minería in a statement, in which they deny the danger of their project in Ciudad Real. Thus, as they say, “the bibliography used to prepare said report does not include any study on gray monazite nor does it refer to any publication on the Campo de Montiel deposits.”
Furthermore, Quantum criticizes this study carried out by authors from an academic scientific institution in Mongolia. In fact, they point out that the Baotou Medical Collegewhich is what it is called, occupies position 7,965 in the SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR), a classification of universities in which, for example, the Autonomous University of Madrid is in position 261, that of Seville in 992 or that of Castilla-La Mancha in 2026.
Precisely, a specialist from this last academic institution, the professor and professor at the School of Mining and Industrial Engineering of Almadén (Ciudad Real) of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Pablo Higueraswell versed in this matter due to training and proximity, has attended ABC to contrast some of the statements made in this regard.
«What they want to do in Campo de Montiel – he points out – is a research project, which at the time was about exploitation, of a mineral called monazite. There is a lot of talk that it is to exploit rare earths, but it is a fallacy, since in reality what is extracted is the mineral monazite, which is the phosphate of rare earths.
Rare earths receive that name, explains the expert, “because they are quite common chemical elements, but they are rarely concentrated enough to be exploited and, when that happens, they are in the form of two minerals, which are monazite and bastnasite.” In this Ciudad Real region, what they want to investigate, specifically, is monazite, which, as he points out, “is a mineral the size of a lentil that is found in the subsoil, concentrated about three or four meters below the surface, and which is used to extract rare earths, so useful for different applications.
The particularity of monazite is that it is a “very stable mineral”in the words of Pablo Higueras, “that is, it optimally resists different atmospheric conditions, the opposite of what happens to pyrite or iron sulfide, which oxidizes easily and causes serious pollution problems in contact with oxygen.” and water.
However, he assures that “monazite does not have that risk because it is physically separated from the earth, without using chemical reagents.” In this way, the extraction company, in this case Quantum Minería, would agree with the owners of the land and excavate small plots at a depth of about three or four meters, which is where the mineral is found, to process it in another place.
Landscape of the Campo de Montiel region, in the province of Ciudad Real
«1% of what would be extracted would be monazite and the remaining 99% would be earthwhich would be replaced again and could be reused without any problem or risk at all, since no chemical component or reagent is added, as they say,” the UCLM professor emphatically states, indicating that “monazite carries on that earth for thousands or millions of years and it has not poisoned anyone naturally because it is an inert mineral.
“A fallacy, a slander”
Therefore, according to him, “to talk about the extraction of monazite as a risk is a fallacy, a total slander.” In addition, it also denies that the research project that can be carried out in Campo de Montiel will be one kilometer deep and seven in diameter, but rather that they will be plots of a few hectares that open and close, being perfectly reusable.
«All the work will be carried out with backhoes and trucks to separate the minerals, something that will be done with water, which is the only drawback it may have, since you have to know the quantity and where the amount of water that is going to be will come from. need,” says Pablo Higueras, who points out that this process can also be done with other methods such as an air cyclone.
In any case, from Quantum Minería have formally addressed the mayors of the municipalities concerned by the Neodimio project -Valdepeñas, Santa Cruz de Mudela and Torrenueva-as well as other affected groups, to propose an information session to explain the details of your initiative.
Meanwhile, the detractors and promoters of this project are still waiting for a decision from the Government of Castilla-La Manchawhich is the one who has powers regarding environmental licenses through the Ministry of Sustainable Development, if they finally give their consent for the gray monazite mineral to begin to be extracted from Campo de Montiel.
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