Each rare earth deposit is unique and is always composed of a variety of minerals. For example, the Baiyun Obo deposit, the largest rare earth mine in production in China, contains bastnaesite, monazite, fluorite, magnetite, barite, calcite, quartz, feldspar, etc. (Cheng et al. 2007a, b).In order to make a rare earth project economically feasible, a …