1
25-076
Rare Earth Elements (REE) in Late Cretaceous Coal Beds in the
San Juan and Raton Basins, New Mexico
Virginia T. McLemore
New Mexico Bureau of Geology and
Mineral Resources/NM Tech, Socorro, NM
Evan J. Owen
New Mexico Bureau of Geology and
Mineral Resources/NM Tech, Socorro, NM
ABSTRACT
Rare earth elements (REE) and critical minerals are
increasingly becoming more important in our technologi-
cal society and are used in many of our electronic devices
(such as cell phones, computer monitors, wind turbines,
etc.), batteries, and magnets. Measuring REE and critical
minerals in ashed coal approximates the REE and critical
minerals in the fly or bottom ash remaining after coal is
burned at a power plant, where REE and other critical min-
erals could be leached. In New Mexico, there are 26 coal
fields in Late Cretaceous rocks in the San Juan and Raton
Basins. These rocks are being characterized as part of the
DOE’s CORE-CM (Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical
Minerals) program. Higher concentrations of REE (as
much as 2103 ppm total REE) are found locally in ashed
coals from the basins. More chemical and mineralogical
analyses are required to fully understand the distribution
and origin of REE in these deposits. As the demand for
REE increases because of increased need and short supplies,
the dollar value per ton of ore rises, enhancing deposit eco-
nomics, perhaps even from coal.
INTRODUCTION
The growing market for alternative technologies like solar
panels, wind turbines, batteries, magnets, electric cars,
desalination plants, and carbon capture and storage require
non-traditional elements for their manufacture. Critical
minerals are mineral commodities that are essential to the
economic and national security of the U.S., and is from a
supply chain that is vulnerable to global and national dis-
ruption. In the mining industry, minerals refer to any rock,
mineral, or other naturally occurring material of economic
value, including metals, industrial minerals, energy miner-
als, gemstones, aggregates, and synthetic materials sold as
commodities. Thus, the term mineral includes all inorganic
substances, as well as hydrocarbons, such as oil and natural
gas, and carboniferous deposits, including coal and humate.
Coal is mined and primarily used in generating elec-
tricity in power plants, but coal also is essential in the man-
ufacture of steel, production of cement, carbon fibers and
foams, medicines, tars, synthetic petroleum-based fuels,
and home and commercial heating. Coal also can be a
potential source of carbon fiber, coking coal, and graphite.
New Mexico has a wealth of mineral resources, includ-
ing coal (McLemore et al., 2017 Hoffman, 1996, 2016),
and some of these critical minerals are associated with
various mineral deposits in the San Juan Basin in New
Mexico (John and Taylor, 2016 McLemore, 2017a, b
2018). But there has not been a systematic evaluation of
their location and resource assessment. This project is one
of 13 CORE-CM (Carbon Ore, Rare Earth Elements and
Critical Minerals) projects funded by the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) to identify and quantify the distribution
of rare earth elements (REE) and critical minerals in coal
beds and related stratigraphic units in coal basins through-
out the U.S.
Coal deposits from throughout the world are known to
contain high concentrations of critical minerals and REE
(Dai and Finkelman, 2018), but a basin-wide geochemical
and mineralogical characterization study of New Mexico
coals is needed to determine the potential for critical min-
erals and REE. The purpose of this study is to identify and
quantify the distribution of critical minerals, including
REE, in coal beds in the San Juan and Raton Basins in
25-076
Rare Earth Elements (REE) in Late Cretaceous Coal Beds in the
San Juan and Raton Basins, New Mexico
Virginia T. McLemore
New Mexico Bureau of Geology and
Mineral Resources/NM Tech, Socorro, NM
Evan J. Owen
New Mexico Bureau of Geology and
Mineral Resources/NM Tech, Socorro, NM
ABSTRACT
Rare earth elements (REE) and critical minerals are
increasingly becoming more important in our technologi-
cal society and are used in many of our electronic devices
(such as cell phones, computer monitors, wind turbines,
etc.), batteries, and magnets. Measuring REE and critical
minerals in ashed coal approximates the REE and critical
minerals in the fly or bottom ash remaining after coal is
burned at a power plant, where REE and other critical min-
erals could be leached. In New Mexico, there are 26 coal
fields in Late Cretaceous rocks in the San Juan and Raton
Basins. These rocks are being characterized as part of the
DOE’s CORE-CM (Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical
Minerals) program. Higher concentrations of REE (as
much as 2103 ppm total REE) are found locally in ashed
coals from the basins. More chemical and mineralogical
analyses are required to fully understand the distribution
and origin of REE in these deposits. As the demand for
REE increases because of increased need and short supplies,
the dollar value per ton of ore rises, enhancing deposit eco-
nomics, perhaps even from coal.
INTRODUCTION
The growing market for alternative technologies like solar
panels, wind turbines, batteries, magnets, electric cars,
desalination plants, and carbon capture and storage require
non-traditional elements for their manufacture. Critical
minerals are mineral commodities that are essential to the
economic and national security of the U.S., and is from a
supply chain that is vulnerable to global and national dis-
ruption. In the mining industry, minerals refer to any rock,
mineral, or other naturally occurring material of economic
value, including metals, industrial minerals, energy miner-
als, gemstones, aggregates, and synthetic materials sold as
commodities. Thus, the term mineral includes all inorganic
substances, as well as hydrocarbons, such as oil and natural
gas, and carboniferous deposits, including coal and humate.
Coal is mined and primarily used in generating elec-
tricity in power plants, but coal also is essential in the man-
ufacture of steel, production of cement, carbon fibers and
foams, medicines, tars, synthetic petroleum-based fuels,
and home and commercial heating. Coal also can be a
potential source of carbon fiber, coking coal, and graphite.
New Mexico has a wealth of mineral resources, includ-
ing coal (McLemore et al., 2017 Hoffman, 1996, 2016),
and some of these critical minerals are associated with
various mineral deposits in the San Juan Basin in New
Mexico (John and Taylor, 2016 McLemore, 2017a, b
2018). But there has not been a systematic evaluation of
their location and resource assessment. This project is one
of 13 CORE-CM (Carbon Ore, Rare Earth Elements and
Critical Minerals) projects funded by the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) to identify and quantify the distribution
of rare earth elements (REE) and critical minerals in coal
beds and related stratigraphic units in coal basins through-
out the U.S.
Coal deposits from throughout the world are known to
contain high concentrations of critical minerals and REE
(Dai and Finkelman, 2018), but a basin-wide geochemical
and mineralogical characterization study of New Mexico
coals is needed to determine the potential for critical min-
erals and REE. The purpose of this study is to identify and
quantify the distribution of critical minerals, including
REE, in coal beds in the San Juan and Raton Basins in