New technology makes ecological mining of rare earth a reality

Newswise: new technologies make the ecological mining of rare earths a reality

They are the driving force behind electric vehicles and are crucial to the manufacture of many high-tech products. However, although rare earth elements have high value in many industries, their mining is extremely dangerous and poses major problems to the environment.

Now, a new study by the University of South Australia may change the way rare earth elements and other important battery metals are recovered from the earth, making mining safer and less harmful to the environment.

Dr. Richmond Asamoah of UniSA Institute for future industry is developing new methods for safe extraction of key minerals from downstream ore processing, tailings reprocessing and wastewater treatment. He is also developing mechanisms to safely recycle used batteries and magnets.

"Rare earth minerals and battery metals are crucial to the economic health of the world's major and emerging economies, but their supply is unreliable due to geological scarcity, geopolitical issues and trade policies," Dr. Asamoah said.

"Accumulated mining waste is becoming an increasingly valuable source of metals and energy, but the lack of productive and economically viable extraction technologies has also resulted in significant losses of valuable metals.

"The process of extracting these key substances is very harmful to the environment, and traditional mining methods will produce a large number of toxic and radioactive substances.

"Our research will identify new technologies that can extract minerals from existing industrial wastes and mineral tailings, as well as recover and obtain minerals and metals from waste batteries and magnets.

"Therefore, we should be able to significantly reduce the amount of waste and hazardous substances that may seep into the environment."

The project will test two metal recovery processes - pulp resin and wet mixed resin - to extract target metals from wastes such as low-grade ores, fine minerals and tailings. These processes can also be used to remove harmful substances from water and soil to minimize their impact on the environment.

Dr Asamoah, funded by the Australian Indian strategic research fund, said the study would bring significant benefits to the two countries.

"We are talking about not only environmental benefits, but also economic and sustainable technologies that the two countries can use to extract rare earth and battery minerals from current mining operations," Dr. Asamoah said

Rare earth elements have contributed nearly $200 billion to India's economy. Although India has the world's fifth largest key metal reserve, most of its rare earth demand comes from China.

"This project hopes that Australia can export rare earth minerals to India as a substitute for China, and also enable India to establish ecological technology for mining minerals and metals in its own territory.

"Importantly, this study will improve the processing capacity of key minerals in Australia and India and create many new eco efficiency opportunities for economic growth, employment and investment."