WVU researchers have developed a way to extract heavy rare earth minerals from contaminated mines
MORGANTOWN, West Virginia – A solution to America’s dependence on foreign rare earth minerals may be coming from an unlikely place: polluted water leaking from abandoned coal mines.
Researchers at West Virginia University (WVU) are working to transform acid mine drainage — a long-standing environmental problem in Appalachia — into a potential domestic source of critical minerals used in everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to advanced military systems.
The United States currently relies heavily on foreign suppliers, including China, for many rare earth elements that are essential to modern technology and national security. Heavy rare earth minerals, in particular, are considered especially valuable because of their role in defense applications and advanced energy technologies.
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Contaminated acidic water from coal mines. (Pete Cuddihy)
WVU researchers discovered those valuable materials were already present in the acidic water flowing from retired coal mines.
"Originally, the entire focus of this effort was just simply cleaning up the watersheds," said Steve Dunmead, CEO of Mission Critical Materials.
Researchers were originally focused on treating acid mine drainage, using chemicals to remove contaminants and make the water cleaner. During that process, they discovered the water also contained rare earth elements.
That discovery opened the door to a new possibility: cleaning up pollution while recovering valuable minerals at the same time.
Contaminated acidic water after treatment at West Virginia University (Pete Cuddihy)
"There’s an opportunity to generate revenue out of this AMD treatment," Dunmead said.
WVU’s research found acid mine drainage can contain a much higher percentage of heavy rare earth elements compared with traditional sources.
"It may end up with 2% heavies in the overall mix," Dunmead said. "In this case, in the coal acid mine drainage, we have like 50% heavy rare earths."
The difference is significant because heavy rare earth elements are among the most valuable and difficult minerals to source.
