The use of rare metals is essential to the manufacturing of advanced equipment as well as smaller or lighter appliances and products. However, due to globally-skewed distribution systems among producer countries and sudden price fluctuations, it has increasingly been become clear that special care needs to be given to the procurement of rare metals.
Japan′s Ministry of the Environment has thus initiated a model project for the recycling of rare metals from small, end-of-life household appliances (e.g. liquid crystal, electronic parts, and secondary batteries). The project, which aims to develop environmentally sound, effective recycling schemes, is being supervised by a research group that was newly established in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The model project has been carried out in seven areas across Japan. It has successfully realized the most efficient methods for collecting small, end-of-life household appliances from local residents by municipalities; and has also found the expected volume of rare metals that can be recovered from such collections.

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The effective utilization of materials found in what have come to be termed urban mines, (stockpiles of waste materials found in consumer-based cities), has become a crucial waste issue in Japan. It is therefore now necessary to evaluate not only the quantity in waste piles, but also the quality (grade) of materials found there. This paper introduces the concept and position of TMR (Total Material Requirement) as a prospective streamlined substitute indicator as compared to other indicators. An expanded concept of TMR, an urban ore TMR (UO-TMR) developed by the authors, is also presented. Using the UO-TMR, the grade of materials located in an urban mine can be evaluated as an expanded elemental concentration that takes into consideration additional material and process inputs as a negative factor. Some examples of this evaluation method are shown using cases of PC laptop recycling. The effects of tailings and urban tailings, which have rarely been points of focus previously, are also discussed here.

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The Japanese government has recently been promoting the recycling of small end-of-life electric and electronic equipment (EEEE) while also being instrumental in the collection of precious metal contents, including rare metals in EEEEs. A standard method for a multi-elemental analysis, however, has not yet been proposed. This report presents a proposal regarding pre-standard methods for simultaneous, multi-elemental analysis (39 elements) by which a more exact recycling potential for these metals can be obtained. The proposed methods are revisions of IEC 62321, established for the regulation of six hazardous substances (lead, etc) found in electronic products as the IEC method applies to all kinds of materials, polymers, metals and electronics. Essentially, the recommended pretreatment methods are : (1) aqua-regia dissolution/alkali fusion for all metals except Ag and Ta ; (2) HF dissolution for Ta ; and (3) 6M HCl dissolution for Ag. Both ICPAES and ICPMS are recommended for measuring accurate determination and detection limits of 1 mg/kg. The methods proposed will need to be improved with minor revisions after further research.

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This paper describes an outline for a national strategy to establish stable security for rare metal resources. It also introduces a national project regarding rare metal recycling being conducted by the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC). Finally, the paper demonstrates the “Reserve to Stock” concept whereby various rare metal concentrates would be stocked and used as resources in the future.
The JOGMEC project demonstrates that it is possible to develop a new recovery process. In such a process, the installed parts would need to be separated from the PWBs for concentrating rare metals. It was also demonstrated that gold and copper components could be recovered in conventional copper smelting plants. The Project also discovered that “parts separation” (the mutual separation of installed parts) could work to concentrate various kinds of rare metals.

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Crushing and enrichment through separation is known as urban concentration preparing. In this paper, the role of urban concentration preparing in the development of urban mining is discussed. There are four main barriers to the development of urban mining : the barriers of random dispersal, waste, cost and historic time period. Urban concentration preparing is effective in overcoming the barriers of waste and cost, however a design for disassembly is the most crucial problem to be solved.

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Recoverable amounts of rare earth magnets (neodymium magnets) were estimated based on data collected from models of appliances using compressors and motors similar to those found in air conditioners and washing machines collected through current home appliance recycling systems, specifications, and contents. The composition and characteristics were analyzed, and the deposits and environmental load reduction effects were estimated based on the grade of rare earth contained. Additionally, the efficiency of the rare earth magnet recovery process, which has been added to the current compressor disassembly process, was examined technically. Results show that not only is the recycling of rare earth magnets from used home appliances feasible, but also necessary from a resource security point of view.

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Japan is a leading producer and consumer of rare metals, importing almost all of the rare metals from around the world in order to produce massive amounts of high-tech and energy-saving products. As a result, a large amount of products containing rare metals and the scrap waste from these products have accumulated in the country. As this scrap is now considered a valuable rare metal resource, it has become imperative to develop processes for the efficient recycling of these rare metals, especially in a country like Japan that has very few mineral resources of its own. Platinum group metals (PGMs) are indispensable for auto-catalysts and electronic devices being used in developed societies, however, these resources are extremely localized in countries such as South Africa and Russia. The annual production of PGMs is much smaller among that of all other rare metals. With the rapid economic growth of the BRIC countries, there is an increased demand for PGMs. This paper reviews the current status of PGM recycling processes involving the pyrometallurgical route.

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In recent years, rare metals, including rare earths, have been gaining more and more public attention. As an example, in late September of last year, problems related to this issue became so severe that Japan-China relations became endangered as a result of the China embargo. The term rare metal became common-place when it started appearing in newspapers around 2005. A speculated rare metal priceclimbingand the growinginterest in rare metals has certainly brought about an expansion in the market for rare metals and the recycling business but rare metalrecyclingis not something as straightforward as simply riding a boom.
Information regarding metal resources was once found primarily in trade magazines published in Japan and was considered to be strictly media for those in the industry. Today, however, through worldwide access to the Internet, WEB formats are rapidly transforming. Although the field of metal journalism is yet to be established in Japan, it will certainly need to objectively debate all possibilities in an effort to develop changes to the classical style of metal journalism in the trade information industry by maintaining a neutral stance and making the most efficient use of the Internet infrastructure.

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