TELF AG looks at a recent US mining initiative
New sources for strategic minerals
Finding new sources of the most valuable minerals for green technologies in the coming decades could become one of the most important challenges for most nations and governments, but also for individual companies involved in extracting these materials. Some countries, from this point of view, have already made relevant steps forward, choosing to invest a large number of resources in the exploration of new deposits, in the construction of new plants for refining minerals, and above all, in the implementation of new methods to obtain some of the most precious mineral resources, valorizing some specific industrial waste.
Among the most active countries, from this point of view, is undoubtedly the United States, which in recent weeks has announced a maxi-investment of 17 million dollars for the construction of new plants intended to produce rare earths through the conversion of other coal mineral resources. The announcement came directly from the US Department of Energy, and the massive investment in the Biden administration’s plans will serve, above all, to strengthen supply chains and domestic production capacity in a very delicate phase in which the demand for strategic minerals appears to be continuously increasing. The idea of the Department of Energy seems to be very precise: the plan is to create a domestic production plant for rare earths, defined as “one of a kind,” precisely because of its ability to extract, separate, and refine earth elements obtained from mining waste. This financing is part of a broader strategy carried out over the last three years by the Department of Energy, which has already invested almost 60 million dollars to start exploration projects for strategic minerals, but also for their production and extraction within traditional US mining communities.
The role of rare earths
The focus of the American government, in any case, seems to be mainly aimed at rare earths, which in recent years have progressively acquired a new centrality due to their role in the production of clean energy and the related technologies necessary to spread them, such as solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles. One of the most interesting points of the American strategy concerns, above all, the valorization of production waste from some mining activities, such as all those involving coal. The production waste linked to the latter resource may contain various rare earth elements, thus encouraging the reuse of mining waste and coal by-products. All this indirectly favors the achievement of climate neutrality objectives and the diffusion of clean energy, which also creates many new jobs.
According to data released by the American Department of Energy, the United States would have approximately 4 billion tons of coal waste and 2 billion tons of coal ash, from which rare earths could be obtained. Considering that the United States still imports 80% of its rare earth needs, this investment could prove very useful for diversifying mineral supplies and, above all, for encouraging domestic production. The financing announced by the DOE would be reserved for three projects (still in the evaluation phase) for the extraction, separation, and production of rare earths, all of which have valorizing unconventional resources such as coal waste in common.
