A research team developed electrokinetic mining (EKM), an eco-friendly method for extracting rare earth elements. EKM reduces environmental harm, lowers resource use, and achieved over 95% recovery in industrial tests, marking a breakthrough in sustainable mining.
On-adsorption rare earth deposits (IADs) are the primary source of heavy rare earth elements (HREE), meeting over 90% of global demand. However, the widely used ammonium-salt-based in-situ mining method has caused significant environmental damage.
To promote sustainable rare earth element (REE) extraction, Professors Jianxi Zhu and Hongping He from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have developed an environmentally friendly and efficient electrokinetic mining (EKM) technology.
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