Tag Archives: rare earth elements (REEs)

Rare-earth recycling (new method) can strengthen raw material independence

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I wasn’t planning on celebrating my 7500th [March 9, 2026 correction: 7499th] post by publishing something from last July. Ah well. Here it is: a July 1, 2025 Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague) press release (also on EurekAlert) announced research into recycling that could provide more critical minerals, in this case, rare earths, Note: Link have been removed,

The scientific team of Dr. Miloslav Polášek at IOCB Prague has developed a new method of separating the rare earth elements, or lanthanides, which are widely used in the electronic, medical, automotive, and defense industries. The unique method allows metals such as neodymium or dysprosium to be purified from used neodymium magnets. The environmentally friendly process precipitates the rare earths from water without organic solvents or toxic substances. The results were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) at the end of June [2025].

Global demand for rare earths is driven primarily by their use in extremely strong neodymium magnets, which enable efficient conversion of motion into electrical energy and vice versa. They are essential to manufacturers of electric cars, wind power plants, mobile phones, computers, and data centers. As these industries develop, demand for rare earths will continue to grow. However, the process of mining and purifying these elements is highly energy intensive and produces large amounts of toxic and radioactive waste.

The rare-earth market is dominated by China, giving it leverage over Europe and North America. It is therefore strategically advantageous to focus on so-called urban mining, i.e. the recycling, renewal, and reuse of materials from discarded equipment, such as electric vehicles, as a significant domestic source of rare earths.

“In the future, we won’t be able to cover the growing consumption of rare earths with primary mining. We know that within ten years at the latest, it will be necessary to manage these materials more carefully. In order to achieve this, the development of new technologies must start now,” explains Miloslav Polášek, head of the Coordination Chemistry group. “Our method solves the fundamental problems of recycling neodymium magnets. We can separate the right elements so that new magnets can be produced. Our process is environmentally friendly, and we believe that it will work on an industrial scale. Fortunately, unlike plastics, chemical elements don’t lose their properties through repeated processing, so their recycling is sustainable and can compensate for traditional mining.”

The topic, which Polášek’s group has been working on for a long time, is part of Kelsea G. Jones’s doctoral thesis. “We’ve developed a new type of chelator, which is a molecule that binds metal ions. This chelator specifically precipitates neodymium from dissolved magnets, while dysprosium remains in solution, and the elements are easily separated from each other. The method is also adaptable for the other rare earths found in neodymium magnets,” says Jones. “The separation is done in water and generates no hazardous waste. We achieve the same or better results than current industrial methods that rely on organic solvents and toxic reagents.”

The new technology is patented and responds to a fundamental global problem at the right time. “We’re impatiently awaiting the results of a feasibility study, which will help us direct this research from the laboratory into practice. I believe that in cooperation with the investors and business partners we’re approaching, this new technology from IOCB Prague has the potential to influence a wide range of industrial sectors,” says Milan Prášil, director of the transfer company IOCB Tech.

This research has also yielded another important finding: namely, that the element holmium is used in neodymium magnets of newer electric cars. Scientists from Polášek’s team discovered this by analyzing samples from the electric motors of European and Chinese cars. However, professional publications have not yet mentioned this fact, and most recycling projects do not take it into account when processing waste from electric cars. These findings will undoubtedly influence other development and recycling projects, even beyond the automotive industry.

….

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Macrocyclic Chelators for Aqueous Lanthanide Separations via Precipitation: Toward Sustainable Recycling of Rare-Earths from NdFeB Magnets by Kelsea G. Jones, Tomáš David, Martin Loula, Stanislava Matějková, Jan Blahut, Anatolij Filimoněnko, Miroslava Litecká, Jan Rohlíček, Jiří Böserle, Miloslav Polasek. Journal of the American Chemical Society (J. Am. Chem. Soc.) 2025, 147, 26, 22666–22676 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c04150 Published June 19, 2025 Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under CC-BY 4.0 .

This paper is open access.

Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) work together to improve critical minerals mining and supply chains

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Let’s start with the Canadian announcement of this new science partnership, from a July 3, 2025 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada news release,

A ground-breaking Canadian and United Kingdom (UK) science partnership will bring researchers together to tackle critical minerals challenges.

Five research partnerships funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the UK Research and Innovation’s Natural Environment Research Council (UKRI’s NERC) will study ways to:

  • clean up toxic mine water,
  • develop new geological tools for extracting rare earth minerals, vital for magnets,
  • identify mineral-rich volcanic deposits,
  • drive sustainable mining practices by co-extracting critical minerals with gold and copper, and
  • make critical mineral supply chains recyclable and more secure.

The five partnerships announced today will receive approximately $250,000 of supplementary funding from NSERC, to complement their share of £1 million GBP International Science Partnerships funding through NERC. This expands total Canadian investments made by NSERC to over $4 million for the successful Canadian-led projects via Alliance grants.

This partnership between Canada and the UK follows their landmark agreement which was signed in March 2023 to cooperate on critical minerals (see UK-Canada critical minerals dialogue press release). 

These studies will support closer collaboration between Canada and the UK, and boost economic growth and job creation.

They will also protect national security interests by strengthening supply chains for critical minerals and reduce the environmental impact of mining.

Awarded Alliance Missions projects:

Microalgal biosorption of critical minerals from mining related tailing ponds – recovering key metals to better protect aquatic systems and water supplies

John Ashley Scott, Laurentian University
Andrea Hamilton, University of Strathclyde

Unlocking Canada’s rare earth element (REE) potential: a multidisciplinary approach to understand high-grade critical REE mineralization in northern Saskatchewan

Camille Partin, University of Saskatchewan
Eimear Deady, British Geological Survey

Geology, mineralogy, and genesis of critical mineral-bearing volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits

Stephen Piercey, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Steven Hollis, University of Edinburgh

An integrated source to sink approach to characterizing critical metals enrichment in magmatic-hydrothermal deposits

Kyle Larson, The University of British Columbia
Katie McFall, University College London

Sustainability standards and traceability of critical minerals value-chains (Lumet)

Steven Young, University of Waterloo
Teresa Domenech, University College London

Professor Alejandro Adem, President, NSERC

“International partnerships like this one are essential to tackling global challenges such as critical mineral security. By combining Canada’s expertise with the UK’s, we can accelerate innovation and advance sustainable solutions to drive economic growth, resilience, and environmental responsibility.”

Professor Louise Heathwaite, Executive Chair, NERC

“We rely on critical minerals for our cars, our phones, our energy, our defense and many more areas of life. The new studies announced today will drive new technologies, advance sustainable mining and support economic growth.

“It will also build on our key partnership with Canada, enhancing collaboration, coordination, and sharing our knowledge and skills in this key area of research.”

The July 3, 2025 UK Research and Innovation press release on EurekAlert offers some insight into their government’s perspective on this scientific partnership, Note 1: The introductory lines and bulleted list are almost identical to the previous news release; it’s the following paragraphs that are of interest, Note 2: Links have been removed,

A groundbreaking UK and Canadian science partnership will bring researchers together to tackle critical minerals challenges.

Five research partnerships will study ways to:

  • clean up contaminated mine water
  • develop new geological tools for extracting rare earth minerals, vital for magnets
  • identify mineral-rich volcanic deposits
  • drive sustainable mining practices by co-extracting critical minerals with gold and copper
  • make critical mineral supply chains recyclable and more secure

Why this matters

This matters because:

  • critical minerals are raw materials essential for modern technologies, including electronics, renewable energy and defense systems
  • global demand and international competition for technology-critical mineral resources is expected to quadruple by 2040
  • ensuring responsible access to these minerals is vital for national security, clean energy and maintaining technological competitiveness

Key area of investment

Research into critical minerals is a key area of investment for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) which includes:

  • lithium for smartphones
  • gallium for semi-conductors and solar panels
  • cobalt for electronics

The five research partnerships announced today will receive a share of the £1 million International Science Partnerships Fund award through the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Enabling international collaborations

These partnerships expand five Alliance Missions grants funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), which is receiving approximately $250,000 Canadian dollars (CAD) of supplementary funding to enable the international collaborations.

In total, an investment of over $4 million CAD is being made to these successful projects.

This partnership between the UK and Canada follows their landmark agreement which was signed in March 2023 to cooperate on critical minerals.

See the UK and Canada critical minerals dialogue press release.

Driving sustainability of the sector

Researchers will study ways to reduce mining’s environmental footprint and enhance efficiency across critical mineral value chains, from exploration to recycling.

It also seeks to build a critical minerals circular economy, minimising reliance on traditional extraction methods, for example by:

  • mine reclamation
  • critical mineral recycling
  • reprocessing of residual mining waste

Research areas

Cleaning up contaminated mine water

This project aims to clean up contaminated mine water using a combination of calcium silicate (CS) and microalgae.

CS sequesters heavy metals like cobalt, nickel and copper, while microalgae help with long-term water remediation.

This approach is low-cost, scalable and environmentally friendly, removing harmful dissolved metals and recovering them for reuse.

Making permanent magnets

To meet net zero goals, this project will develop new geological models and exploration tools for rare earth element (REE) deposits in Saskatchewan, Canada.

REE are crucial for making permanent magnets in wind turbines and electric vehicles.

The research will help diversify the REE supply chain and ensure high environmental standards.

Metals in volcanic areas

This project studies the processes that make some regions rich in volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits, which are rich sources of:

  • copper
  • zinc
  • lead
  • silver
  • gold

The research aims to improve exploration and mining efficiency, focusing on the UK, Ireland, and Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Co-extracting gold and copper plus critical minerals

This project aims to understand how critical metals like tellurium, bismuth, antimony and platinum group metals can be efficiently extracted as by-products from copper and gold deposits in British Columbia, Canada.

The research will help improve extraction techniques, ensuring a stable supply and minimising environmental impact.

Boosting supply chains

Critical Minerals for Resilience and Sustainability (MINERS) aims to enhance the resilience and sustainability of critical minerals supply chains between the UK and Canada.

The project will identify whether there is an opportunity to reuse critical minerals are part of a circular economy and define policy levers to move away from unsustainable practices.

Using supply chain modelling, it will map current flows of critical minerals and assess resilience to shocks.

How this research will benefit the UK and Canada

These studies will support closer collaboration between Canada and the UK and boost economic growth and job creation.

They will also protect national security interests by strengthening supply chains for critical minerals and reduce the environmental impact of mining.

Accelerating innovation

Professor Alejandro Adem, President of NSERC, said:

International partnerships like this one are essential to tackling global challenges such as critical mineral security.

By combining Canada’s expertise with the UK’s, we can accelerate innovation and advance sustainable solutions to drive economic growth, resilience, and environmental responsibility.

Economic growth

Professor Louise Heathwaite, Executive Chair of NERC, said:

We currently rely on critical minerals for our cars, our phones, our energy, our defence and many more areas of life.

The new partnerships announced today will help drive new technologies, advance sustainable mining and support research and innovation outcomes that enable economic growth.

It will also build on our key partnership with Canada, enhancing collaboration, coordination, and sharing our knowledge and skills in this key area of research.

Further information

Current UKRI-funded investments on critical minerals

NERC Centre for Doctoral Training: mineral resources for energy transition

TARGET: Training and Research Group for Energy Transition Mineral Resources

Met4Tech: The Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre in Technology Metals

UK centres to play vital role in boosting modern green industries

UK supply chains get safeguarding boost

Further details of the projects announced today

A Combined Geochemical and Biosorption Tool for Mine Water Clean-Up and Valorisation

Andrea Hamilton, University of Strathclyde, UK

John Ashley Scott, Laurentian University, Canada

Exploration and Geomodels for Rare Earth Element Pegmatite Targets

Eimear Deady, Alicja Lacinska, Holly Elliott, Monty Pearson, Nick Roberts, Richard Shaw, Victoria Loving, British Geological Survey, UK

Camille Partin, University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Metal Fertility and Transport in Volcanic-Hosted Hydrothermal Systems

Steven Hollis, The University of Edinburgh, UK

Hannah Grant, Mark Cooper, British Geological Survey, UK

Stephen Piercey, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

Katie McFall, University College London, UK

Towards ‘Critical Geometallurgy’ of Post-Subduction Mineral Resources

Katie McFall, Emma Humphreys-Williams, Frances Cooper, University College London, UK

Kyle Larson, The University of British Columbia, Canada

Dan Smith, University of Leicester, UK

MINERS

Teresa Domenech, Paul Ekins, Xavier Lemaire, University College London, UK

Gavin Mudd, British Geological Survey, UK

Steven Young, University of Waterloo, Canada

…

As mentioned in both releases, there was an earlier agreement that presaged this 2025 funding announcement and there is a tonal difference between the two 2023 releases under Canada’s Justin Trudeau Liberal government and the UK’s Rishi Sundak Conservative government, respectively. First, the March 6, 2023 Natural Resources Canada news release,

Critical minerals are vital to almost every aspect of the modern world, from electronic equipment to renewable energy, to defence and electric vehicles. Their importance in the global net-zero transition means that they are increasingly sought-after: the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects that global demand for critical minerals will grow four-fold from 2020 to 2040 and beyond. It is clear that we must grow and secure the global supply of critical minerals, while ensuring the resilience and sustainability of our supply chains, which requires significant international collaboration. To further enhance this collaboration, Canada and the United Kingdom are pleased to announce the establishment of a Critical Minerals Supply Chains Dialogue.

Canada and the United Kingdom are committed to working together to tackle this challenge and seize the opportunities to support economic growth. We will therefore endeavour to collaborate closely to build resilient, sustainable, and transparent supply chains. We will work together to develop solutions to new global challenges including climate change, promote jobs and investment in both our countries, and deepen the already-strong ties between Canada and the United Kingdom.

Canada and the United Kingdom have each released national Critical Minerals Strategies, and there is a strong case for us to work in concert to achieve our aims. Both countries are committed to ensuring critical minerals markets are diverse, resilient, guided by fair market practices and underpinned by the highest environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, along with demonstrating respect for Indigenous peoples’ rights and local communities. Both countries will also seek to ensure that the supply chains that bring these minerals from mine to end product are transparent and innovation-driven, including a focus on recycling and mineral circularity. The United Kingdom-Canada Critical Minerals Supply Chains Dialogue will be established, building on the enduring ties between our nations, demonstrated through the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement (and ongoing negotiations for a high ambition, bespoke bilateral Free Trade Agreement), the March 2022 Leaders’ statement on collaborating on economic resilience and critical minerals, our joint work through Five Eyes, and our joint membership in the Minerals Security Partnership, the IEA’s Critical Minerals Working Party and the Sustainable Critical Minerals Alliance.

We will deepen Canada and the United Kingdom’s engagement and cooperation on critical minerals supply chain resilience and trade, ESG credentials, and Research and Innovation. We will capitalise on the respective strengths of both countries, and our shared commitment to growing the sector to strengthen international critical minerals supply chains, promote economic security, and contribute to meeting net zero targets.

Canada is a global mining leader and home to advanced exploration projects for battery minerals and metals such as lithium and graphite, as well as rare earths and other critical minerals that are vital inputs for EVs and the clean technology sectors. With high ESG credentials and one of the lowest ESG risks across global mining projects, Canada is a leader in community engagement, conservation, governance and Canadian critical minerals are carbon competitive. Canadian nickel, cobalt, copper, aluminium, uranium, and potash are some of the least emissions intensive in the world. With clean electricity and a mining industry’s commitment to sustainability, Canada has a global reputation as a secure partner across the critical mineral value chains for batteries, EVs, and other advanced technologies for the net zero and digital transition.

The UK is home to strong mining and engineering sectors, and is a global centre for financing, standards and metals trading. It has mining and mineral processing expertise, including various industrial clusters and Europe’s leading mining school, and its own pockets of critical minerals wealth. British advanced manufacturers are customers for critical minerals and play an important role in their supply chains. The UK also has a role as an international dealmaker, leveraging its expertise in regulatory diplomacy, its extensive engagement in multilateral forums and its strong relationships with mineral-rich producer countries and consumer markets.

Through the United Kingdom-Canada Critical Minerals Supply Chains Dialogue, it is intended that both countries will work together to pursue the following shared objectives:

  • Promote and build secure and integrated UK-Canada critical mineral supply chains, including through information-sharing, facilitating investment, and building commercial relationships between Canadian and UK industries, and sharing supply chain resilience analysis.
  • Drive higher ESG performance across all elements of the critical minerals value chain, through government signalling, active promotion throughout our respective industries and close collaboration in multilateral fora.
  • Leverage the existing strengths of the two countries to promote skill-sharing and R&D between UK and Canadian industry, academia, and governments, along with other close international allies to spur supply chain innovation. This collaboration will build new linkages in upstream and midstream segments of critical mineral value chains, extending to downstream reuse and recycling.

Officials from Natural Resources Canada and Global Affairs Canada, and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), and Department for Business and Trade (DBT) will work closely together and with other participants of the United Kingdom-Canada Critical Minerals Supply Chains Dialogue to lead this work and identify an initial set of priorities for our collaboration.

Now, the March 6, 2023 UK’s Department for International Trade/Department for Business and Trade press release,

The UK and Canada have agreed a landmark agreement to co-operate on critical minerals such as cobalt and lithium that are essential to the economy.

  • UK and Canada to sign agreement to bolster vital technologies such as smart phones, solar panels and electric vehicles.
  • Agree to work together on critical minerals research and make supply chains more resilient as demand for some minerals expected to rise 500% by 2040.
  • Agreement signed on Minister Nus Ghani’s five-day visit to Canada to meet counterparts and attend the International Mines Ministers Summit and the closing of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The UK and Canada have agreed a landmark agreement [sic] to co-operate on critical minerals such as cobalt and lithium that are essential to the economy and used in almost all modern and green technologies, from solar panels to electric vehicles.

The partnership, to be launched today [Monday 6 March {2025}] by Business and Trade Minister Nusrat Ghani MP and Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson, will help make UK manufacturers of cutting-edge technologies more resilient to global shocks by promoting research and development between UK and Canadian businesses, driving innovation and growth.

The announcement comes on a five-day visit to Canada, during which time Minister Ghani will also meet Canadian government counterparts to discuss critical minerals and attend the International Mines Ministers Summit and the closing of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Minister for Business and Trade, Nusrat Ghani MP, said:

Every single one of us depend on critical minerals to make the technology we use in our everyday lives. With a dash for minerals to meet national business needs, it is essential we work to build more resilient supply chains for critical minerals.

Through this Dialogue, we will work with one of our closest global allies in Canada to build and strengthen our supply chains and boost innovation, securing jobs and growing the UK economy in the process.

Canadian Minister of Natural Resources, The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, said:

Canada and the United Kingdom share similar goals and values.

By collaborating on the development of the critical mineral supply chains that we need to achieve our net-zero future, we can reinforce global energy security, advance the fight against climate change and ensure significant economic opportunity and support good jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

Today’s announcement is a step forward toward a sustainable and secure clean energy ecosystem.

Canada is the UK’s 13th largest export partner, with UK companies exporting £14.1 billion worth of goods and services to Canada in the 12 months to September 2022. Canada represents a large opportunity for UK mining and engineering firms, with the country currently producing 60 minerals and metals at 200 mines and 6,500 quarries. [emphasis mine]

The Critical Minerals Statement of Intent and Dialogue will be launched by Minister Ghani at the 2023 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention. They also commit Canada and the UK to high environmental, social and governance standards in critical minerals supply chains.

Demand for certain critical minerals is expected to rise by as much as 500% by 2040, and the Statement and Dialogue are a part of the UK’s Critical Minerals Strategy to secure supply chains for these minerals and therefore the UK’s position in the growing markets for green technologies, such as hydrogen production and nuclear energy. A refreshed approach for delivering the Strategy is due to be published later this year [2023].

Yes, again, we are the staples economy, aka (also known as) the hewers of wood and drawers of water. Or, in the context of this 2023 UK press release, Canadians provide a good market for UK products while happily supplying the UK with the resources for those high value products, which they sell back to us thereby extracting both Canadian resources and more profit for the UK.

I gather Keir Starmer’s Labour government is taking a ‘softly, softly’ approach in comparison to the Sundak Conservative government’s more direct approach. Of course that ‘softly, softly’ approach features a press release, which lists approximately 19 UK researchers as opposed to five Canadian researchers. So, approximately 80% of the researchers are affiliated with UK institutions. Interesting.

Also interesting? No mention in any release of the Geological Survey of Canada as opposed to the mention of the British Geological Survey.

Rare earth elements (REE) and the Canadian Light Source

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Unexpectedly, this story centers on coal and in this case, coal ash. A September 12, 2024 Canadian Light Source news release (also received via email)) by Brian Owens explains how coal ash is a source for rare earth elements (RRE), Note: A link has been removed,

As the world transitions away from fossil fuels, the demand for rare earth elements (REEs) is only going to increase. These elements are vital to the production of technologies that will make the transition to green energy possible. While REEs are not technically rare, large deposits are found in only a few locations around the world – mostly in China – and they are difficult to extract.

“If we want to switch to electric vehicles by 2035 and be net-zero by 2050 we’re going to need new sources of these metals,” says Brendan Bishop, a PhD candidate studying REEs at the University of Regina.

Bishop and his colleagues have been studying one potential new source of these valuable elements: the ash that is produced as waste from coal-fired power plants. Researchers have looked into REEs in coal waste in the United States and China, but there has been little work done on ash from Canadian coal.

The team analyzed samples of ash from coal plants in Alberta and Saskatchewan to determine how much REEs the ashes contained, and how they could be extracted. While the concentration of REEs in Canadian coal ash is on par with that found in ash from other parts of the world, questions remained about whether the REEs are dispersed evenly throughout the ash particles or concentrated in certain minerals found within the ashes.

Using the powerful X-ray beamlines at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), Bishop probed the ash, in search of a rare earth element called yttrium. They found it was distributed in specific mineral phases within the ash particles, most often in the form of silicates or phosphates such as xenotime which remain unchanged when the coal is burned.  The work was published in Environmental Science and Technology.

Bishop says this data can help inform development of an efficient and environmentally friendly process for recovering REEs from the ash. “This will be important when we develop a recovery process because extracting rare earth elements is technologically challenging,” he says. “In this case, since it’s in xenotime which is an ore mineral, maybe we can use an existing process and modify it for coal ash.”

The amount of REEs that could be extracted from coal ash will depend on the recovery process, says Bishop. But he thinks it could be a good short-to-medium-term source of the metals. The concentration is not particularly high, but that is offset by the fact that waste coal ash is plentiful. The concentration throughout the ash is also fairly homogenous, so no complicated grading is required as with mined ores. Once the extraction process is perfected, it will also be much faster than opening new mines, which often have gaps of up to 17 years between exploration and production.

Recovering REEs from the ash is also an important step toward a circular economy. Some ash is used in making concrete, but most just sits in landfills or tailings ponds near power plants. “It not only gets rid of an environmental liability, but it also gives us the metals we need for clean energy technologies,” says Bishop.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Rare Earth Element Speciation in Coal and Coal Combustion Byproducts: A XANES and EXAFS Study by Brendan A. Bishop, Karthik Ramachandran Shivakumar, Jamie Schmidt, Ning Chen, Daniel S. Alessi, Leslie J. Robbins. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2024, 58, 32, 14565–14574 Published July 30, 2024 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c04256 Copyright © 2024 American Chemical Society

This paper is behind a paywall.