Critical U.S. minerals are already mined but discarded. Small-scale recovery could meet demand and cut waste.
According to a new study published in Science, existing U.S. mines already produce all the critical minerals needed each year for energy, defense, and technology.
The problem, explained Elizabeth Holley, associate professor of mining engineering at the Colorado School of Mines and lead author of the study, is that these resources are not being recovered. Instead, minerals such as cobalt, lithium, gallium, and rare earth elements, including neodymium and yttriu,m are being discarded in the waste streams of other mining operations, such as those for gold and zinc.
“The challenge lies in recovery,” Holley said. “It’s like getting salt out of bread dough – we need to do a lot more research, development, and policy to make the recovery of these critical minerals economically feasible.”
Data-driven analysis of U.S. mines
To carry out the study, Holley and her colleagues created a database documenting annual output from federally permitted metal mines across the United States. They then applied a statistical resampling method to combine this production data with geochemical measurements of critical minerals in ores, compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey, Geoscience Australia, and the Geological Survey of Canada.
Through this method, the researchers were able to estimate how much of these critical minerals is produced and processed at U.S. mines each year but ultimately not recovered. Instead, these valuable resources are being discarded as mine tailings, which must then be stored and managed to reduce the risk of environmental pollution.
“This is a brand-new view of ‘low hanging fruit’ – we show where each critical mineral exists and the sites at which even 1 percent recovery of a particular critical mineral could make a huge difference, in many cases dramatically reducing or even eliminating the need to import that mineral,” Holley said.
Recoverable elements and potential impacts
The analysis in Science looks at a total of 70 elements used in applications ranging from consumer electronics like cell phones to medical devices to satellites to renewable energy to fighter jets and shows that unrecovered byproducts from other U.S. mines could meet the demand for all but two – platinum and palladium.
Among the elements included in the analysis are:
- Cobalt (Co): This shiny bluish-gray metal, essential for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries, is produced as a secondary material during nickel and copper mining. Recovering under 10 percent of the cobalt that is currently mined and processed but left unrecovered would be sufficient to supply the entire U.S. battery industry.
- Germanium (Ge): A brittle, silvery-white semi-metal used in electronics and infrared optics, including sensors for missiles and defense satellites, is found in zinc and molybdenum deposits. By reclaiming less than 1 percent of the germanium already mined and processed but not recovered in the U.S., domestic demand could be fully met without relying on imports.
Environmental and policy opportunities
The benefits of enhanced recovery are not only economic and geopolitical but also environmental, Holley said – recovering these critical minerals instead of sending them to tailings piles would reduce the environmental impact of mine waste and open more opportunities for reuse in construction and other industries.
“Now that we know which sites are low-hanging fruit, we need to conduct detailed analyses of the minerals in which these chemical elements reside and then test the technologies suitable for recovery of those elements from those specific minerals,” Holley said. “We also need policies that incentivize mine operators to incorporate additional processing infrastructure. Although these elements are needed, their market value may not be sufficient to motivate operators to invest in new equipment and processes without the right policies in place.”
Reference: “By-product recovery from US metal mines could reduce import reliance for critical minerals” by Elizabeth A. Holley, Karlie M. Hadden, Dorit Hammerling, Rod Eggert, D. Erik Spiller and Priscilla P. Nelson, 21 August 2025, Science.
DOI: 10.1126/science.adw8997
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10 Comments
It is high time to recognize our waste-generating social psychology that throws away elements upon which we actually depend, not only material which underlies defense material, but also food waste and farm waste. The idea that happiness and enjoyment come from looking away from what is seen as garbage is a colossal social error. Using less to accomplish more is an idea sorely needed, and will be vital to the visit and development of other planetary surfaces as well as our home on Earth.
“Although these elements are needed, their market value may not be sufficient to motivate operators to invest in new equipment and processes without the right policies in place.”
That is the essence of the problem. Basically, an ore is defined as being a rock with a sufficient percentage of a useful mineral (grade) that it can be mined and processed at a profit, at the prevailing market price. If a mine is operating profitably, then the additional costs of co-production can be amortized by or shared with the primary mineral. Therefore, a lower grade of the secondary product may be able to be mined. However, mines are where you find them, not necessarily where you would like them to be. Thus, the costs of hauling and crushing vary considerably with every mine, depending on the topography and distance to a processing plant. If recovering the secondary mineral(s) requires that the ore be ground more finely, then costs go up, perhaps exponentially. The bottom line, literally, is that if the costs of recovery exceed what the by-product mineral or element can be sold for, then there is little incentive to invest in an additional processing stream infrastructure, chemicals, and power to run it.
Almost every element known can be found dissolved in seawater. However, nobody tries to extract even gold or platinum because it costs more to process (and properly dispose of) the seawater than can be derived from the sale of the precious metals. It would take a revolutionary technological breakthrough, such as a cheap, efficient, and selective osmotic filter to extract what is wanted without materially impacting the discharged seawater.
Ms. Holly, et al., are engaging in arm waving and not telling mining companies anything that they don’t already know. No well-run company is going to turn their backs on real “low hanging fruit” if it were as simple as the authors suggest. What is frequently suggested as an “incentive” is some form of tax break, rebate, or premium that come out of the US treasury; however, the costs are shifted and hidden. That is, it becomes something that all taxpayers contribute to, whether they are aware of it or want to or not. No good comes from disguising costs and pretending that there is a free lunch.
Note that the lede picture above is of the Climax Mine, at 11,400′ elevation, an inhospitable environment, especially in the Winter. According to Wikipedia, they already co-produce other elements and minerals: “Beside molybdenum, the mine has also produced tin (from cassiterite), tungsten (from hübnerite), and pyrite as by-products.”
The cited AAAS Science article is not open access, despite the research being funded by NSF (US Taxpayers). My goal was to read the paper and see if they had a valid, viable case study (or studies) that showed practical recovery for mines that don’t co-produce. My guess is that co-production is already pursued at mining locations with sufficient recoverable co-products (as Mr. Spencer above has alluded).
The funny part of almost every single new stage discovery of ingenuity is that most of the time, you can find the starting idea bypassing years of research by sharing, informing, and inviting the community to participate and offer a life changing paycheck if they contribute the next phase of xyz development.
I have seen, heard and witnessed first hand on multiple occasions, where mister thomas, Papa John, old war veteran jack, lumberjack joe, retired woodsmen dave, homeless man larry, garage george, or old timer chris. Posses years of trial and failure or come across knowledge of finding unheard ways to get certain things done in unconventional ways.
Want to extract minerals from a rock? Im sure theres an old dude somewhere with the answer.
Speaking as an “old dude,” I think that your confidence in us is misplaced. About the time I was born, only high-grade deposits met the definition of an ore. As the high-grade deposits were worked out, and often abandoned, low-grade, uneconomic ‘waste’ rock was left behind in dumps. Many of those have since been worked because there were few alternatives for the particular resource and new ways had to be found to process what had formerly been uneconomic. So, a combination of escalating prices because of the scarcity, and new technologies, allowed the economically successful extraction of what was not formerly economical. There are perhaps some overlooked high-grade deposits, but probably not in sufficient volume to meet societies’ demands. Yes, old dudes sometime possess special knowledge and skills that are sometimes unexpectedly useful. Unfortunately, it is often a matter of finding someone who knows how to make a few buggy whips.
Now speaking of waste, many of the dumps from the copper mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are being crushed for road aggregate because there is a shortage of aggregate. They are making a token effort to catch some of the copper that gets exposed and flattened in the crushers by screening out the larger pieces. However, I suspect that the road aggregate that gets sold has a higher grade than the producing porphyry copper mines in Arizona and elsewhere. Michigan is paving its roads with copper with little concern for the future.
Alaska is loaded we have high quality commercial concentrations of all the rare earths and 49 of the 50 critical minerals.
We are finally open for business
The biggest problem is mining companies are going oversees where they can pay 3 bucks an hour and have the protection of the US military. This screws us a sovereign
Country because we are holy dependent on other countries.
There was a proposal to open a new copper/gold mine in Alaska. Biden stepped in and voided the permits.
Interested in more information about Alaska and is minerals
Interested in more information about Alaska and is minerals
There is always a better way of doing things .