A Chinese-led team of scientists says it has found a naturally formed mineral with rare earth elements in a fern, a world first that offers a “green circular model” for extracting high-value rare earths, according to an institution behind the study.
The researchers said the discovery of nanoscale monazite in a living plant “opens new possibilities for the direct recovery of functional rare earth element materials”.
“To our knowledge, this is the earliest reported occurrence of rare earth…