Currently, the U.S. imports a significant volume of rare earth metals from China and several countries in Africa. However, thanks to the recent discovery of a huge cache of rare earth metals within U.S. coal ash, the country will most likely be able to reduce its imports. According to the study, an estimated 11 million tons of rare earth metals are present in coal ash in the U.S. That figure is about eight times more than the rare earth metal supply the U.S. currently holds in reserve.
This is the first study of its kind ever conducted on coal ash, and scientists suggest that there could be about US$8.4 billion worth of rare earth metals sitting in the country’s coal ash.
“There are huge volumes of this stuff all over the country,” said Davin Bagdonas, a research scientist at the University of Wyoming and co-author of the study. “And the upfront process of extracting [the mineral hosting the rare earth metals] is already taken care of for us.”
Bagdonas added that the amount of rare earth metals found in coal ash is comparatively low to the amount that can be mined around the world, but the proximity and ready availability of the metals in the U.S. coal ash makes it incredibly useful.
While scientists are continuing to conduct research on the coal ash, this discovery could be an exciting and important development for the U.S. As such, the U.S. Department of Energy is conducting a similar study to back the University of Texas Austin team’s findings.