A bastnasite is a light-brown mineral which is a source of many rare-earth elements, especially gadolinium, samarium and neodymium.
Dysprosium is found in the minerals xenotime, fergusonite, gadolinite, monaziate, and bastnasite. More commonly in monaziate and bastnasite.
The mineral bastnäsite is one of a family of three carbonate-fluoride minerals, which includes bastnäsite- with a formula of CO3F
Today it is mined as Monazite, in Brazil , China, California.
Metal ores included in this category include: aluminum, antimony, bastnasite, bauxite, beryl, beryllium, cerium, cinnabar, ilmenite, iridium, mercury, microlite, monazite, osmium, palladium, platinum, quicksilver, the rare-earth metals, rhodium.
Samarium is never found free in nature, but, like other rare earth elements, is contained in many minerals, including monazite, bastnasite and samarskite: monazite (in which it occurs up to an extent of 2.8%) and bastnasite are also used as commercial sources. Misch metal containing about 1% of samarium has long been used, but it was not until recent years that relatively pure samarium has been isolated through ion exchange processes, solvent extraction techniques, and electrochemical deposition. The metal is often prepared by electrolysis of a molten mixture of samarium chloride with sodium chloride or calcium chloride. Samarium can also be obtained by reducing its oxide with lanthanum. wikepediahttp://www.answers.com/topic/samarium-iii-chloride
Praseodymium is available in small quantities in the earth's crust and belongs to the category of rare earth minerals. This element can be found as mixture with other elements in monazite and bastnasite and can be extracted using the process called ion exchange or by counter-current solvent extraction Or... it's family is the Rare Earth Minerals Lots Of Love Hjaw123 xx
Neodymium is typically found in minerals such as monazite and bastnäsite. These minerals are primarily mined in countries like China, Brazil, and India. Neodymium is often extracted as a byproduct of rare earth element mining.
Although lanthanum belongs to the element group called rare earth metals, it is not rare at all. Lanthanum is available in relatively large quantities (32 ppm in Earth's crust). "Rare earths" got their name because they were indeed rare as compared to the "common" earths such as lime or magnesia, and historically only a few deposits were known. Lanthanum is taken into consideration as a rare earth metal because the process to mine is difficult, time consuming and expensive. Monazite (Ce, La, Th, Nd, Y)PO4, and bastnasite (Ce, La, Y)CO3F, are the principal ores in which lanthanum occurs, in percentages of up to 25 to 38 percent of the total lanthanide content. In general, there is more lanthanum in bastnäsite than in monazite.
Mines of rare earths (including lanthanum) exist in China, India, USA, Australia, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Tanzania, Greenland, Vietnam, etc.The most important minerals are monaziteand bastnasite.