Potential Future Alternative Resources for Rare Earth Elements: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Currently, there is an increasing industrial demand for rare earth elements (REE) as these elements are now integral to the manufacture of many carbon-neutral technologies. The depleting REE ores and increasing mining costs are prompting us to consider alternative sources for these valuable metals, particularly from waste streams. Although REE concentrations in most of the alternative resources are lower than current REE ores, some sources including marine sediments, coal ash, and industrial wastes, such as red mud, are emerging as promising with significant concentrations of REE. This review focuses on the alternative resources for REE, such as ocean bottom sediments, continental shelf sediments, river sediments, stream sediments, lake sediments, phosphorite deposits, industrial waste products, such as red mud and phosphogypsum, coal, coal fly ash and related materials, waste rock sources from old and closed mines, acid mine drainage, and recycling of e-waste. Possible future Moon exploration and mining for REE and other valuable minerals are also discussed. It is evident that REE extractions from both primary and secondary ores alone are not adequate to meet the current demand, and sustainable REE recovery from the alternative resources described here is also necessary to meet the growing REE demand. An attempt is made to identify the potential of these alternative resources and sustainability challenges, benefits, and possible environmental hazards to meet the growing challenges of reaching the future REE requirements.

Tolerance of Rare-Earth Elements in Extremophile Fungus Umbelopsis isabellina from Polar Loparite Ore Tailings in Northwestern Russia

“…Moreover, these elements are extremely important in a wide range of industries, including the manufacturing of modern technologies. Cerium and neodymium are important in electronics and are used in the production of plasma screens, lasers and smartphones, each of which contains 50 mg of Nd [37]. Nd-Fe-B magnets are the strongest permanent magnets known [37].…”

“…Cerium and neodymium are important in electronics and are used in the production of plasma screens, lasers and smartphones, each of which contains 50 mg of Nd [37]. Nd-Fe-B magnets are the strongest permanent magnets known [37]. The recovery of REEs from loparite waste helps sustainable development through the circular economy and by creating more nature-like technologies.…”

“…However, current knowledge concerning REE tolerance (toxicity) in microfungi is still quite limited [33,34,36]. Rare-earths are naturally distributed in the environment and are now increasingly used in agricultural and high-tech-manufacturing industries [37]. Despite this, the toxicity of REEs to human health-and to the environment-is not yet fully understood [37].…”

Combating Climate Change and Global Warming for a Sustainable Living in Harmony with Nature

“…For the whole world to deliver net zero by 2050, large-scale mining is more critical for metals such as Li, Cu, Ni, Co, Pt, Pd, REE, Ga, W, Te, and In, as these metals are essential for green technology applications such as making wind turbines, solar panels, fuel-cells, electric vehicles, and data storage systems required to transition to a low-carbon economy and for a sustainable energy future. Since land-based mineral deposits are dwindling fast, sea-bed resources are seen as a new resource frontier for mineral exploration and extraction [73][74][75] . As the land ore deposits are becoming scarce for some of these critical metals, there is an urgent need to look for alternative resources [76] .…”

Geothermal Energy and Beyond—A Review

“…In addition to heat and electricity production, geothermal energy can be utilised to extract critical raw materials essential for manufacturing various products. Recent studies have highlighted the potential of geothermal brine fluids to extract valuable minerals, including lithium and tungsten [3][4][5].…”