Re:Researchers produce nearly-pure rare earth concentrates f...
by John_KZ on Monday March 12, 2018 @11:16AM
(#16568675)
The US already produces and consumes 1 billion metric tons of coal per year. Numbers in Europe are similar. Also all this coal is already cleaned and crushed. That's a lot of mass, even at the low yields, and it's essentially "free" ore.
The real limiting factors are throughput and cost of ore processing.
If the process can be done economically at the rate of production, it will be implemented. Even if it barely brakes even in terms of finances, it also helps with A) stopping rare earth metals from going airborne (which is a health hazard sometimes) and B) Creating a strategic backup source of rare earth metals and C) Preventing further environmental damage from additional mining for rare earth metals elsewhere.
The real limiting factors are throughput and cost of ore processing. If the process can be done economically at the rate of production, it will be implemented. Even if it barely brakes even in terms of finances, it also helps with A) stopping rare earth metals from going airborne (which is a health hazard sometimes) and B) Creating a strategic backup source of rare earth metals and C) Preventing further environmental damage from additional mining for rare earth metals elsewhere.