Rare Earth Elements (REEs) consist of the fifteen lanthanide elements plus scandium and yttrium, and can be found in more than 250 minerals. They exist in reasonable abundance in the Earth's crust, but mining sites contain too small REE concentration to be valuable for separation. Cerium, yttrium, lanthanum, and neodymium are the most abundant REEs in the crust with similar abundances to commonly mined nickel and zinc metals; However, their extraction is almost impossible as they are found in deposits with very low concentration. These elements are applied in various modern applications including high-tension magnets, additives for metal and glass, petroleum refining's catalysts, and phosphors used in electronic displays. REEs never existed as pure metals, while they are found in many minerals including carbonates, halides, oxides, phosphates and silicates. Bastnäsite, monazite, and xenotime, as REE-bearing minerals, could be mined economically. They could be recovered using gravity, magnetic, electrostatic and flotation techniques. This review examines the mineralogy, characterization and physical separation techniques currently used for the beneficiation of Egyptian rare earth minerals and spots localities require further research.