A treasure of key minerals is wasted in the United States, says the study

The United States is home to dozens of active mines. Some extract copper, while others dig into iron. Whatever the resource, however, it is generally a small fraction of the rock drawn from the ground. The rest is generally ignored. Wasted.

“We only produce a few products,” said Elizabeth Holley, mining engineering professor at Colorado School of Mines. “The question is: what’s in these rocks?”

The answer: Many.

In a study published today by the journal Science, Holley and his colleagues aimed to quantify what is in these rocks. They found that, out of 70 critical elements at 54 active mines, the recovery potential is enormous. There is enough lithium In one year, mine waste from us, for example, to supply 10 million electric vehicles. For manganese, this is enough for 99 million. These figures far exceed the two American import levels of these elements and the current demand for them.

Critical minerals are essential to the production of lithium-ion batteriesSolar panels and other low or zero carbon technologies supplying the transition of clean energy. Where the United States obtains these minerals, it has long been a politically difficult subject.

The vast majority of lithium comes from Australia, Chile and China, for example, while cobalt comes mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although obtaining a national offer of rare or critical materials is an objective of American policy for decades, the push has intensified in recent years. The legislation on the historic climate of former President Joe Biden, the law on the reduction of inflation of 2022, included incentives for the production of domestic critical minerals, and this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive decree invoking war times which would allow more rental and extraction on federal lands.

“Our national and economic security is now very threatened by our dependence on the mineral production of hostile foreign powers,” said order. “It is imperative for our national security that the United States takes immediate measures to facilitate interior mineral production in the maximum possible extent.”

Trump also made critical minerals a cornerstone of continuous support in Ukraine. Meanwhile, China has recently expanded export controls on rare land metals, highlighting the precarious nature of the world market.

Holley’s research indicates that an increase in the recovery of interior by-products could approach this instability. Even a recovery rate of 1%, according to him, “would considerably reduce” import dependence for most elements. The recovery of 4% of lithium would completely compensate for current imports.

“We could focus on the mines already in business and simply add additional circuits to their process,” said Holley. “It would be a very rapid way to put a necessary mineral into production.”

The latter research is “very precious,” said Hamidreza Samouei, Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A & M University who was not involved in the study. He sees it as an excellent starting point for a several-strict approach to tackle the problem of by-products and head towards a zero waste system. Other areas that will need attention, he said, include the look beyond the rock thrown at the “huge” quantities of water that a mine uses. He also believes that the government should play a more aggressive regulatory policy and role in pursuing the resumption of critical minerals.

“Mining is a very old -fashioned industry,” said Samouei. “Who will take the risk?”

The Ministry of Energy recently announced a pilot recovery program for by-products, and the Pentagon has taken a participation of $ 400 million in the operator of the country’s only rare-terrace metal mine. At the same time, the congress recently repealed large pieces of the law on the reduction of inflation, which would have led to the request for critical minerals and reduced federal funding of the US Geological Survey and the Bureau of Sciences of the Ministry of Energy, among other weapons of research.

The general thrust of the scientific study is “not new,” said Isabel Barton, professor of geological engineering at the University of Arizona. “This is a very hot subject in mining today.”

Attention contributes to a booming change in reflection, of an intense concentration on the mineral targets to the consideration of what could be produced, including critical minerals. “There are some who are probably relatively simple. There are others who are difficult to reach,” said Barton, and if a mineral is restored, will end up. “The mining companies are there to make a profit.”

Discovering the path to the most viable economically is exactly the next Holley step hopes that this research will inform. The potential of by-product varies considerably according to mine, and the analysis, she said, can help determine where to find potentially which minerals. For example, the Red Dog mine in Alaska seems to have the greatest potential of Germany in the country, while nickel Can be found in the mines of Stillwater and East Boulder in Montana.

“The funding (of research and development) of critical minerals was a little dissolving,” she said. “Our article allows the development of a strategy.”

This article was initially published in Grist to Grist is an independent media for non -profit, dedicated to tell stories of climatic solutions and a fair future. Learn more about Grist.org.