Currently the known high grade easily-acquirable reserves of rare earth element (REEs) containing phosphate minerals are depleting. The objective of this study was to enrich indigenous phosphate solubilising bacterial strains from various phosphate ores and evaluate their potential application in the bioleaching REEs from the ores. Bacterial communities were enriched from the highest grade known deposit of REEs in the world, in arid Western Australia. The dominant taxa enriched from the monazite concentrate were Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Firmicutes. The consortium of indigenous bacteria solubilized REEs (Ce, La, Nd) up to a total final concentration of 0.836 mg L-1.