Rare earth elements (REEs) are indispensable components in many high-tech products, including mobile phones, televisions and electric vehicles - yet mining them can be hazardous work.
Metal mining often leads to water and soil pollution, air contamination and biodiversity loss. Thankfully, new innovations may allow miners and processors to mine and process essential minerals without harming people and the environment.
Rare earth elements are at the forefront of tomorrow's technology, making a variety of new and emerging applications possible. Their magnetic, phosphorescent, and catalytic properties enable miniaturization of electronics while supporting essential defense, telecom, and transport systems. Furthermore, rare earths help improve permanent magnet strength dramatically.
These 17 silvery-white metals, commonly referred to as the Lanthanides or Rare Earth Elements (REEs), first achieved scientific and geopolitical importance during the early 20th century due to advances in atomic physics which allowed for their separation using x-ray spectroscopy.
Before the mid 2000s, the United States was the leading producer and exporter of rare earth metals; however, during the 1970s China's Communist government developed manufacturing capabilities in response to global trade policies instituted by U.S. administration that created economic disruption. An increasing reliance on China for rare earths prompted America to build up its own production capacity as well as identify alternative sources of supply.
As REE prices rose and low-cost Chinese producers took market share, mining industry focus shifted toward cutting costs and increasing efficiency; many ambitious rare earth projects such as Molycorp's Mountain Pass mine and Greenland Project were either abandoned or significantly scaled back, including Molycorp's Mountain Pass mine and Greenland Project.
China currently leads the world in refined rare earth production with 85% of market share, and significant refiners outside of China produce from domestic ores and mineral concentrates before shipping these materials back for further processing in China. Exploration expenditure on rare earths in sub-Saharan Africa ranks lower than Australia, Canada and Latin America and represents less than half their costs of mining operations.
The Green Energy Revolution requires an exponential increase in wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles (EVs). To store energy effectively these devices need batteries which store it; but for maximum power density rare earth elements must be added into these cells for proper functioning.
Rare earth metals are lustrous, silvery-white soft heavy metals with multiple industrial applications. From fluorescent lighting and PET scanners, to specialty ceramics and magnets used by new energy technologies; rare earth metals play a pivotal role. Magnets made with rare earths are essential to developing new energy technologies like wind turbines. Their magnets require both praseodymium and neodymium elements for strength while dysprosium and terbium aid demagnetization protection.
Geologically speaking, rare earth elements are not particularly scarce - they're found in deposits all around the globe in similar concentrations to copper or tin deposits - however, only rarely in concentrations sufficient to allow extraction with ease or economic viability.
Additionally, current production methods of rare earth metals cause extensive environmental harm. Mining produces harmful toxic chemicals that pollute both air and water sources; waste from these extraction processes often gets dumped into ponds that leak and contaminate groundwater supplies; metal mining is the number one polluter in America while extracting rare earths requires much energy thus creating large amounts of toxic waste during processing.
China has long dominated the global rare earth market. Before 2012 when a World Trade Organization complaint loosening export quotas and permitting foreign companies to sell their products in China allowed more foreign firms to sell REEs there, China controlled over 97% of global REE refined output.
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Rare earth metals are essential components of high-tech products like cell phones, computer hard drives, flat-screen monitors and electric cars, defense systems and crucial medical devices. While they may represent only a minor part by weight or value or volume of a product such as an electric vehicle motor or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine; they still serve their function perfectly well. Magnets crafted using rare earth elements like neodymium and samarium magnets are some of the strongest available - making them indispensable components.
However, several key issues have raised concerns about sourcing critical minerals. One is the geographic concentration of production: China, Russia and Congo are responsible for more than three-quarters of total output while China holds over 85% market share for refining operations.
High concentration rates combined with complex supply chains increase the risk of physical disruption or trade restrictions. Companies are seeking ways to enhance mining and refining processes or replace them altogether; some EV manufacturers have begun designing vehicles with reduced or eliminated rare earth elements altogether, using other materials instead that perform similarly.
Labs across the globe are exploring "biomining," using bacteria to produce chemicals that leach rare earths from ores and recycled electronic waste, while others are exploring novel approaches to identify rare earth elements, including light spectrum analysis. American Rare Earth Resources in Wyoming is developing an environmentally sustainable rare earth separation and recovery plant using less chemicals than existing technologies - something which could prove instrumental to finding long-term sustainable sources for these essential minerals.
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Rare Earths (REs) are 17 metals in the middle of the periodic table with unique fluorescent, conductive, and magnetic properties that make them useful in everyday applications. Due to their relatively low concentration in Earth's crust and cost associated with extraction processes, rare earths are considered "rare". To make them more accessible they are typically alloyed with more abundant metals like iron to increase their utility.
European chemists of the 19th century were highly prized at discovering new elements, with Jons Jacob Berzelius isolating cerium and thorium and Carl Gustaf Mosander discovering lanthanum, erbium, and terbium among many others. But isolating them proved more challenging, until recently when scientists developed technologies capable of doing it through light spectrum analysis.
Green energy's revolution has resulted in an incredible demand for rare earths, yet their supply is uncertain. Production is highly concentrated; just three producers account for nearly three quarters of world production; China alone accounts for roughly 97% of all refined rare earth metal production worldwide and has recently acquired mining rights in Africa.
Mining rare earths without leaving significant environmental damage is extremely challenging. The process involves digging through soil, mixing it with chemicals in a leaching pool and then isolating rare earths from each other - with toxic chemicals seeping into groundwater sources and leading to erosion. One mine in Inner Mongolia considered one of the world's rare earth capitals has been polluted with radioactive thorium and arsenic contamination which has caused local residents skeletal fluorosis and chronic arsenic toxicity issues.
Researchers are exploring new sustainable mining techniques for rare earths. At Cornell University, scientists are conducting "biomining", programming microbes to produce organic acids which leach rare earths out of ore or recycled electronic waste and into solution pools for extraction. This technique requires much less energy than traditional mining and could prove transformative for the industry.
Rare earths (REs), commonly referred to as the 17 elements commonly referred to as "rare earths", are essential elements used in numerous hi-tech products ranging from wind turbines and hybrid cars for green energy to national defense satellites and national space programs. Yet the term rare earth is misleading: REs can be found abundantly throughout nature but extraction processes may be difficult or toxic when mined for.
Rare earth elements are distinguished by their complex chemical properties that make them hard to distinguish from one another and from more familiar metals. Beginning in the 19th century, European chemists attempted to identify mixed metals through studying their spectral properties; with modern laboratory equipment like X-rays making this task even easier, their work became even easier.
In the 1970s, corporate and industrial research produced numerous consumer products requiring rare earths. One example is a Nickel-Metal Hydride Battery (NMC), used in some video cameras and hybrid car batteries that rely on Lanthanum and Neodymium; other applications include powerful magnets used in loudspeakers as well as computer hard drives to make devices smaller and more energy-efficient.
REEs are currently found most frequently in green technologies; however, government policymakers and mining companies must also look for ways to produce products using less rare earths or substituting these minerals with cheaper ones. They must also support more eco-friendly extraction and processing techniques and promote recycling e-waste, which contributes significantly to REE pollution globally.
Toledano remains optimistic that her efforts will create a more reliable supply of elements necessary for our high-tech future. She believes the solution lies in developing innovative separation and recovery technologies and decreasing waste generated from current production methods.
Rare Earth Elements: Essential for the Green Energy Revolution