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The Conversation USA

Could coal ash be a viable source of rare-earth metals?

  • Written by Saptarshi Das, Graduate Research Assistant in Sustainability, Rochester Institute of Technology
Is more than waste stored in this pile of coal ash?AP Photo/Steve Helber

Rare-earth elements, including neodymium and yttrium, are not actually rare – more common, in fact, in the Earth’s crust than copper and tin. But, because they are scattered widely, and hard to separate from their surrounding ores, mining and refining them is...

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