Recent technology transitions, including electric vehicles (EVs), battery energy storage systems (BESS). and electronic devices need materials that were rarely used in past-generations. How do we find these? How about by dump-diving. No, I’m not talking about trips to your local refuse-disposal site (a.k.a. “dump”). Instead, I suggest examining the waste-streams of other material-refining processes.
Most U.S. metal mines are built to dig for one or two things: copper, iron, or in some places maybe gold. But here’s the thing — when these mining companies pull up ore, the majority of its content isn’t copper or iron or gold. It’s something else. And that “something else” might just hold the keys to our clean energy future.
“We’re only producing a few commodities,” said Elizabeth Holley, a mining engineer at the Colorado School of Mines. “The question is: What else is in those rocks?”
The answer, as her new study shows, is a lot.
