The U.S. Geological Survey has invited states to compete for $5 million in cooperative agreements to find critical minerals in mine waste at active and legacy sites. The funding opportunity supports the agency’s efforts to build a national mine-waste inventory.
“The USGS is partnering with state geological surveys to modernize our understanding of critical minerals in the U.S., both below ground and above ground in mine waste, and this competitive funding will help us get there,” said Jamey Jones, science coordinator for Earth MRI (the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative).
“Minerals, such as germanium, are essential for high-performance computer chips used in applications that weren’t even dreamed of when old mines closed. Germanium often occurs with zinc in ore, and it might have been left behind in mine waste when zinc ore was processed.”
Understanding what is in mine waste also helps identify potential hazards of reprocessing it to recover the critical minerals and other valuable commodities and opportunities for remediation. For example, the USGS revisited legacy iron mines in the Adirondack Mountains of New York to determine if rare earth elements might occur there. Results indicated significant potential that merits further exploration, especially for rare earth elements.
Source: USGS