U.S. Discards Enough Critical Minerals in Mining Waste to Meet National Needs, Study Finds
By
giuliomagnifico
Slow-proofed and worth the wait. Worth its weight in flour.
Summary
A new analysis published in Science reveals that the U.S. already mines sufficient critical minerals like cobalt, lithium, gallium, and rare earth elements to meet its annual needs for energy, defense, and technology applications. However, these minerals are currently being discarded as waste tailings from other mining operations (such as gold and zinc extraction) rather than being recovered. The main challenge identified is improving recovery processes to capture these valuable minerals that are already being extracted but wasted.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledAll the critical minerals the U.S. needs annually for energy, defense and technology applications are already being mined at existing U.S. facilities
These minerals are currently being discarded as tailings of other mineral streams like gold and zinc
The challenge lies in recovery
Improved recovery of critical minerals such as cobalt, lithium and rare earth elements currently being discarded as tailings could meet the U.S. demand
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