Electrokinetic mining technology for recovering rare earth elements from weathering crusts

Phys.org  November 17, 2022
Ion-adsorption deposits, which form within weathering crusts, supply more than 95% of the scarce global heavy rare earth elements (HREE) demand. Deposits are currently mined via ammonium-salt-based leaching techniques that are responsible for severe environmental damage and show low recovery efficiency. Researchers in China have designed an innovative rare earth elements (REE) mining technique, electrokinetic mining (EKM), which enabled green, efficient and selective recovery of REEs from weathering crusts. Its feasibility was demonstrated via bench-scale, scaled-up and on-site field experiments. Compared with conventional techniques, EKM achieved ~2.6 times higher recovery efficiency, an ~80% decrease in leaching agent usage and a ~70% reduction in metallic impurities in the obtained REEs. According to the researchers the evidence presented suggested that EKM is a viable mining technique…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE 

…IAD mining via EKM and AIP mechanisms. Credit: Nature Sustainability (2022) 

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