- Rare earth’s not that rare anyway
- Recycling electronics is improving – but we need neighbourhood e-waste bins
- Substituting with magic crystals
- Demand will stabilise as the global population peaks and starts to decline
- Biomining can extract the last bits of a depleted mine
- Space: mining the moon, Mercury, and asteroids
On the materials page we saw that renewables and EV’s and grid storage can all be built from super-abundant materials. But the one question remained. After we Electrify Everything from energy supply to industry and mining and even batteries – what about our electronics? Computers and smart phones and the server farms that run google and banks and the electricity grid itself? Aren’t they vulnerable to rare-earth shortages? Don’t computers and all that NEED rare earths?
(This page last updated Nov 2023. There will be editing in the months to come.)
Rare earth’s not that rare anyway
While they are called ‘rare’ – it’s more a function of their geology than their scarcity. They’re not really that rare. And many are separated out of other metals we are mining anyway.
Rare earths are for example 200 times more abundant on earth than gold or platinum. In other words, the exploitable reserves of rare earths are much less critical than those of many other strategic metals. Note that some other metals such as lithium and cobalt used in lithium-ion batteries are not rare earths.
Sneci
Recycling electronics is improving – but we need neighbourhood e-waste bins
Science News Explores wrote such a good introduction I had to quote it in full on a separate post. The summary: it takes lots of energy and hydrochloric acid to get even a few grams out of some electronics, but they’re working on new methods that are less energy intense and toxic. They use processes with bacteria and salt and even shredding processes that reduce the amount of energy and toxins required. The one point they made: we need community e-waste schemes.
Substituting with magic crystals
Similar to how we can replace copper with aluminium, some nanotech manufacturers are looking to do astonishing things with plainer materials. OK – they’re not really magic crystals or Infinity Stones – but they may as well be with the crazy technology involved. Instead of using rare earth’s they take elements near them on the periodic table, grow crystals that mimic the rare earth functions in LED lights, computer monitors and smart phone screens.
See Global Spec July 2019 for more.
Demand will stabilise as the global population peaks and starts to decline
The Worldwide Demographic Transition is coming right about when we’ve nearly finished the energy transition. We’ll have all the metals and rare earths we need, already mined, and by then hopefully easy to recycle. On top of that – a declining global population to satisfy. There is some evidence that demand for steel stabilises after a country has industrialised and built out all the bridges and skyscrapers they need. I imagine new smart recycling systems and even alternative materials tech (carbon nano-tubes?) gradually replacing the need to mine rare earths in the first place. Whatever the case – there will be less consumers demanding it all.
Biomining can extract the last bits of a depleted mine
Microorganisms can extract metals out of dirt. Grind the mine tailings up, put them in a vat, add water and the right bacteria – and they breed by eating the metals and concentrating them out of the dirt. It energy efficient and cheap. We already use biomining for 5% of the world’s gold and 20% of the world’s copper. It can also help with recycling e-waste. See the wiki or this article from American Geosciences.
Eclipse Now 