AUSTIN – While America has long depended on China for rare earth elements, perhaps America’s newly found treasure will change that.
As per a more recent study, about $8.4 billion worth of rare earth minerals are just lying around hidden and uncovered in the U.S. Being easily accesible, America could soon tap into a wealth of possibilities that could assist with revolutionizing the mineral supply chain.
Research that led to uncovering this treasure trove
While Americans have long tried to divert the attention away from rare earth elements due to the country’s dependence on China for these rare earths, rare earths are required in virtually all industries with a sustainability focus including the smartphone industry. Therefore the discovery by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin was so important.
These researchers looked at waste and a particular byproduct which they found was rather rich in rare earth elements. They used this particularly byproduct that had been generated during the years 1985 and 2021. Of that byproduct left behind about 70% or 1,9 billion tons could be recovered from landfills. Within the recoverable byproduct amount, 11 million metric tons of rare earths could be discovered…