Rare earths contribute as material significantly to the Life Cycle Assessment of green technologies. New mining endeavors are likely to influence the future environmental profile of them. The developed method aspires to enable an estimation of the expected environmental characteristics. Based on a literature research the most influential factors are established. The process steps mining, beneficiation and separation are accounted for. Through a relevance analysis of potential and actual mining projects possible future production scenarios, based on best and worst case assumptions, are developed and reviewed. Their influence on the following parameters: country specific energy provision, type of mining, allocation method, rare earth oxide grade and Neodymium-grade is quantified.

Life Cycle Assessment; Production Scenarios; Monazite; Neodymium; Rare Earth