Experts are finding new ways to harvest rare earth elements. 

While rare earth elements are highly valued across many sectors, they are extremely hazardous to extract, posing significant issues for the environment.

But a team at the University of South Australia is developing new ways to safely extract critical minerals from downstream ore processing, tailings reprocessing, and wastewater treatments. 

They are also developing mechanisms to safely recycle spent products from scrap batteries and magnets.

“Rare earth minerals and battery metals are vital for the economic wellbeing of the world's major and emerging economies, yet, their supply is not reliable because of geological scarcity, geopolitical issues, and trade policy,” says Dr Richmond Asamoah from UniSA’s Future Industry Institute.

“Accumulated mining wastes are becoming an increasingly valuable source of metals and energy, but because there’s a lack of productive and economically viable extraction technologies, there’s also a notable loss of valuable metals.

“As a result, we should be able to significantly reduce the amount of waste and harmful materials that can seep into the environment.”

The project is testing two metal recovery processes – resin in pulp and resin in moist mix – to extract target metals from low grade ores, fine minerals and wastes such as tailings. 

These processes can also be used to remove harmful substances from water and soils to minimise their environmental impact.