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Lutetium is never mined in isolation—it's a minor component of rare-earth minerals like monazite and xenotime. These ores are extracted via open-pit or underground mining and then crushed and milled to concentrate the rare-earth elements.
The concentrated ore is dissolved using hot, concentrated sulfuric acid, converting rare earths into soluble sulfates. Unwanted elements, such as thorium, precipitate and are removed at this stage.
The solution is treated with ammonium oxalate, causing rare-earth oxalates to precipitate. These are then annealed (heated) to form corresponding oxides.
The oxides are dissolved in nitric acid, which leaves certain elements like cerium behind due to their insolubility. Lutetium and other rare earths are then fractionally crystallized as double salts with ammonium nitrate and further purified using ion-exchange resins. In ion exchange, lutetium ions are selectively adsorbed onto resin and eluted with complexing agents.
Additional rounds of solvent extraction can further enhance purity. This involves transferring lanthanides into an organic phase and back into aqueous phase under controlled conditions.
The purified lutetium compounds—typically halides like LuCl₃ or LuF₃—are reduced to metallic lutetium using a reactive metal such as calcium (or sodium/aluminum) at high temperatures.
The resulting metal may be further purified through vacuum melting, sublimation, distillation, or zone refining to remove residual impurities. The pure lutetium metal is then cast or formed into desired shapes—ingots, powders, foils, or dendritic structures depending on the method used.
