Mining Rare Earth Elements

The Environment, Tech, And The Conundrum We Face

When rare earth elements hit the news, it’s often in the context of trade disputes. Many people are aware of these obscure rocks peripherally, and may even know that they’re involved in technology somehow. But it’s fair to say that most consumers have no idea how much these trace minerals impact their daily life, not to mention the planet’s health. If more people knew how rare earth mining impacts the environment, they might make different choices about what tech they buy and how they use it.

Rare earth elements are also known as REEs. They aren’t rare in the sense that they’re hard to find, like platinum or emeralds. In fact, REEs appear all over the world in fairly plentiful quantities. However, they’re usually bound up with other elements, like uranium and thorium, and require laborious extractions. There are no great veins of yttrium, for example.

About seventeen of these elements exist, fifteen of which appear on the bottom row of the Periodic Table. They include lanthanide elements like neodymium, lithium, yttrium, and scandium.

REEs appear in almost every piece of lightweight modern technology, including phones, lenses, and, critically, most green tech. Electric vehicles and wind turbines both need magnets made from REEs. A modern Prius has up to thirty pounds of various rare earth materials inside of it and the average EV might have more than four pounds in the engine alone.

Ninety-seven percent of rare earth elements are now mined in China. Due to lax environmental regulations, producers can extract and refine REEs there very cheaply. However, because of the geopolitical implications of China’s control over such a critical resource, new mines will soon open in Australia and Brazil, among other places.

But for now, REEs come from open-pit mines. Extractors process them chemically, which usually involves an acid bath meant to separate the elements within the ore. Where this acid goes afterward depends on local environmental regulations…or lack thereof.

The process of mining REEs is ecologically devastating. Processing one ton of rare earth metals releases 2,000 tons of radioactive materials, carcinogens, toxic compounds, acids, and other pollutants into the environment. Since thorium and uranium often occur alongside REEs in nature, tailings from mines tend to be radioactive. The powerful acids required to extract REEs from their rocky homes can’t be disposed of in a way that’s truly safe. The mining process also consumes tons upon tons of water.

There’s no need to live next to such an ecological disaster to feel the effects. Mining is heavy work, and the machinery that it requires runs primarily on diesel. The scale of these operations, plus the blatant lack of concern for the environment within this industry, means lots and lots of extra carbon in our atmosphere.

The problem is that REEs are critically important. Without them, even the green tech that we need to avoid catastrophic warming wouldn’t work. That’s why it’s time to get creative with mining alternatives.

To reduce our reliance on these ecologically disastrous substances, we’ll need to combine a conscious choice of environmentally safe technology and, potentially, a willingness to endure a smartphone, and other gadgets, that aren’t quite the latest model.

There’s one electric car brand that doesn’t rely on rare earth magnets: Tesla. Most Teslas use induction motors, which don’t require magnets. The downside is that induction motors aren’t as strong or as long-lasting as those that rely on magnets. As always, the cheap, quick fix for a tech problem is convenient, but not sustainable. Disappointingly, some Tesla cars have capitulated to the demand for range. The Model 3 Long Range uses a permanent magnet motor.

Your phone does not give out every eighteen months. However, that’s about how often Apple comes out with a new device. The rush to buy these consumer fetish items drives a cycle of pollution. One of the best ways to minimize the environmental impact of the REEs in your phone is to simply keep it. You may be surprised by how long it lasts.

Unfortunately, many phones aren’t made to be repaired. This leads to the best strategy for combating REE-derived pollution: rethink the entire technology manufacturing process as we know it.

Green tech will require REEs. Giving up new cell phones will help stifle demand, but it’s likely that REE dependence will only increase as humanity converts to carbon-neutral energy.

That doesn’t mean that we’re helpless. As with most other things ecological, it is clear that controlling REEs is a matter of controlling our own consumption. The REE problem would be much more manageable if the tech cycle were thirty-two months instead of eighteen, if all phones featured replaceable batteries, and if consumers opted for refurbished models.

Unless that happens, tech companies are just going to keep digging.

Related posts:

Se ainda tiver vontade, pode vir falar comigo. Me diga quais são as novidades. Reclame de tudo que está errado em sua vida pela vigésima sexta vez. Diga mais uma vez o tamanho de sua gratidão por ter…

Even if you are used to pitching to potential investors in real life, online pitching needs some finetuning of your presentation to ensure your message gets across. Here are some tips on how to…

Welcome to the world of marketing, where strategies are continually evolving with the changing trends and demands of customers. The emergence of digital marketing has transformed the way businesses…