Rare Earth Elements and Wyoming

- Your support helps us bring you the programs you love. Go to Wyomingpbs.org, click on support, and become a sustaining member or annual member. It's easy and safe. Thank you. (upbeat music plays) - If you have a mobile phone or a big-screen TV, chances are it was made with

rare

earth

elements

, which are also very important to national security. Think fighter jets and lasers. So why are all

rare

earth

elements

primarily mined and processed in China, especially when Wyoming has some of the highest quality rare earth element deposits in North America? Rare Earth Elements, up next in the Wyoming Chronicle. (dramatic music playing) (brilliant music playing) - This program was funded in part by a grant from the Newman's Own Foundation, which works to nourish the common good, donating all profits from Newman's Own food and beverage products to charities seeking to make the world a better place.

More information is available at NewmansOwnFoundation.org. - Funding for this program is made possible in part by the Wyoming Humanities Council, helping Wyoming take a closer look at life through the humanities. thinkwy.org and by members of the WyomingPBS Foundation. Thanks for your support. - And as we begin our discussion on rare earth elements. It is our pleasure to welcome Scott Scott Quillinan to the Wyoming Chronicle. Scott is the director of research and communications at the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources and also the director of economic geology research here at the university. Scott, welcome to the Wyoming Chronicle. -Craig, thank you.

And it is a privilege to be here. - We have teased our audience a little about where rare earth elements are used and essentially in many things. - Yes. - And I think people will be very surprised at what they are and where they come from. But essentially, Scott, I think it's important that we start the discussion about what are they? What are rare earth elements? - Sure. So, rare earth elements, if you could go back to your high school chemistry class and you could imagine that row of 15 elements being removed from your periodic table a little further down.

We never talk about them. Nobody ever talked about them in high school chemistry. That is the lanthanide series. That is the list of rare earth elements. And it also includes yttrium and scandium. Actually, they are not rare. - Yes. - Then they're over. They have a good kind of relative abundance throughout the Earth's crust. But they are only found in great abundance in a few places in the world. - And as we'll talk about here in a minute, one of those places is here in Wyoming. - That's right. - And we will. But I want to get an even broader idea from Scott: where are they used?

The list begins. (Scott laughs softly) - Okay. Well, let me say it more broadly. If you have a device that plugs in, it has rare earth elements. If you have a device that has a battery that you charge, it has rare earth elements. If you have a flat screen TV or a screen, your smartphone, it has weird elements. If it is a non-glare glass, it has rare earth elements. So any advanced industrial material or component really contains a good portion of rare earth elements. - It is interesting to me that the United States was a leader in the extraction and processing of rare earths. - Sure. - But it's not today. - It is not.

No. - Let's go there now. Why is that? - Well, now more than 85% of production comes from China. So the path they took is interesting and quite strategic. So in the mid-80s, they opened up and said, "Okay, if you're a rare earth element developer," we invite you to China to come and "develop rare earth elements" and we'll even give you a rebate in the export tax." So if you're a developer, you're going to say, "Okay, well, I can go to China and "produce rare earth elements much cheaper" than I can do here in the United States. ".

That attracted a lot of foreign investors and a lot of foreign companies to China to open operations. And the next thing they did, about five or six years later, they said, "Okay, wait a minute," they actually see the rare earth elements "as a strategic mineral." And that's why they started limiting foreign investment and foreign participation in the industry. So if you have rare earth element operations in China, suddenly you get the dials turned on you and they force you. to go out a little bit. And if you have a mine, you really had two options that you could sell or you could close the store and leave.

So, what many things did... or what many companies did is sell to Chinese partners. you had... You brought in everyone from all over the world to produce cheap rare earth elements. And then you've sort of pulled the rug out from under foreign participation. Now it's a Chinese industry. And then the next thing they did, and. This happened in the late 90s, they began to limit the export of raw rare earth ore. So, let's say you are a developer in Malaysia who likes to make a rare earth element alloy that you sell in global markets. Now suddenly China says, "Okay, well, we're actually not going to export that raw 'rare earth material' anymore." Now...

So what happened to global prices? They just went off. So if you're that developer trying to get your hands on rare earth elements, you can't afford it anymore. So, that laid the foundation for cheap domestic advanced manufacturing in China, because they could access cheap rare earth elements. It kind of drove everyone out of the industry. And that was in the late '90s and it was about a decade before the rest of the world really took notice and said, "Hey, wait a minute." "All this is being done today in China. "And now we are starting to need these elements "for energy security, for national security, "and we don't have them." That's why rare earth elements are so important. word of mouth fashion today. - They are used in lasers. - Right. - They are used in bombs. - Very ironic to me, we still depend on China.

The energy resources school here at the University of Wyoming has a role in the research of. rare earth elements and maybe in the revitalization, it's mining and maybe even manufacturing rare earth elements here in Wyoming. Is that accurate? So we take a two-pronged approach here. The first approach is not led by. me, so I'll give you a little overview and then I'll talk about what we're doing. The first approach is to do a regulatory and policy analysis. So it's kind of... It's a forward-looking group that looks at, you know. , what policies should be developed to establish a rare earth element industry, or what type.

A regulatory framework may need to be developed. So that is the first approach that is analyzed from a normative and policy analysis. And then the second approach is the research approach. So we're looking at (Craig clears throat) identify where rare earth elements are found today, where the resources are, how they got there, how they occur, maybe explore for additional ones, start to understand what needs to be done when it is extracted. Where do they come from, do they need to be updated? Do you need to concentrate them? What can be used from an advanced manufacturing industry?

How can they be used to start energizing an advanced manufacturing industry? But I would say SER's role is to really remove some of that economic risk from the industry. As if they had many questions. So we can come in and collaborate, through research, to help answer some of those questions and remove some of the uncertainty. - It turns out that northeastern Wyoming is home to one of the highest quality rare earth deposits in North America. - That's true. Yes. - Then why not start processing? (Scott laughs softly) Let's go. Let's make the rare earth element independent of the United States. - Yes, let's do it.

So that's... You mean the warehouse at the bear shelter. It is just north of Sundance, Wyoming. It probably has around 18 million tons of rare earth elements associated with it. It has been well documented. We know it's there. - Is this private property? Is it... - Is it private federal? Yes, good. A combination? - Combination. - Well. - Combination of the two. You get into these factors: we have a country that owns almost the entire market, right? So it's very difficult to get going. So why not just start an industry in Wyoming? That's probably the biggest hurdle you have to overcome, is you have to be able to become...

To enter the market. Being able to compete economically and environmentally. - Do you have any sense that the federal government has recognized that this is an important issue for national security, much less for the convenience of having a nice cell phone with a good screen in my pocket? - Yes. I think it is sincere and it is an issue that we know we must address. I haven't seen anything like subsidies to help boost an industry. But I think ears are open. If some unique policy or regulatory measures could be taken, I think there would be open ears to help kick-start a domestic industry. - I have read in recent years in the Trump administration, when they talked about a trade war between the United States and China, that the threat of withholding exports of rare earth elements to the United States was a problem.

Do you know much about that? - I don't know much about that, but it's a topic, right? If it's a national security issue, then we talk about... You talked about lasers, but the one I like to use is the fighter jet. It has more than 900 pounds of rare earth elements in the F-35 fighter jet. So from a national security perspective, we will need a continuous supply of rare earth elements. From an energy perspective, as we begin to electrify our transportation fleet, each of those cars needs a constant supply of rare earth elements to keep the batteries running.

So, I mean, I find it really important. - Let me tell you what I have read about the rare earth elements market. And if you can contribute more. In 2018, the global rare earth market amounted to about 8.1 billion. They estimate that, on this type of path, there will be more than 14.4 billion in 2025. It seems to me. - Yes. I agree with that. I think that's absolutely true. - Let's talk about coal. - Well. - And their potential relationship in this discussion. It is possible that rare earth elements can be obtained from coal or coal ash. Alright? - That's how it is.

Yes. We have a program focused on exactly that here at the School of Energy Resources. As you read, it turns out that Wyoming coal has rare earth elements associated with it. And what we have discovered is that they are not consistent throughout the scene. They tend to be at the top like this, two or three feet away, like in the transition from no charcoal to charcoal. It is a kind of ashy coal. And then again in the background. So the interesting thing is that ashy charcoal is kind of a material that you scrape out and put back in the hole because it's not the pure, high BTU quality charcoal that they used to sell.

So they're already extracting the rare earth elements, they just set them aside and put them back in the well. So our program looks at how consistent, for lack of a better word, a mineral deposit can be in Powder River Basin coal and how laterally continuous it is between mines. So that's what we're seeing today. - What are you learning about the research schedule in a project like this? And then I'd like to talk to you about what it means to not only have the coal ash but also actually extract the processing part, so to speak. - Sure. - Where are you and where is the status in relation to this? - Yes.

So you mentioned coal ash. So if you burn coal in a coal-fired power plant in the back, you get coal ash. And in that Ash rare earth elements are concentrated. And that's why we have another program that is developing a pilot project to analyze the economic viability of extracting rare earth elements from coal ash. And that pilot, as you mentioned, will take about three years, from start to finish, before we have really meaningful results on the economics behind this. And also what environmental challenges could be behind this. So research takes time. - Sure. - And once we have a pilot, we will have to scale it up and then market it.

So you're really talking about a decade. - I think that is important for the discussion. When you think about Wyoming coal, you add value. - Yes. - Through Wyoming coal. It certainly cannot be emphasized that this is a substitute for coal. As we know it today to keep the industry at its current pace. That's right? - Good. So even if tomorrow we could start a mining operation ofrare earth elements, would never be as big as our coal mining industry is. It just never would be. So what we're leaning towards is that if we take into account the rare earth elements along with the coal, this gives us an added value or a cost competitiveness for Wyoming coal that can be sold in the market. - I think one aspect of the relationship between the United States and China is true.

That even in places that mine rare earth elements, much of it is still sent to China. - Yes. - To process. - Good. - And not processed in the country. Why is that? - It's because, as I mentioned, they were very strategic in how they built their entire supply chain. And that's exactly what happens. Now, all those different steps, the beneficiation, the metallurgy, the processing, all of that happens now in China. So even if we extract them here in Wyoming, we would probably put them on a ship and send them there for processing. - Can that potentially change?

Do you think it will ever be economically viable for Wyoming and even a major employer, so to speak, mining, refining and processing, if rare earth elements are processed in the state? - Yes. That is the care taken by the industry here. What we want to develop is that complete supply chain at the national level. And we'd like to do it here in Wyoming. Where you extract it, you enrich it, you make it through beneficiation and you start advanced manufacturing here. - There are regulatory concerns and there are probably environmental concerns. Let's take the regulatory concerns first.

What are the obstacles? - Well, a mine must be allowed. That is not an easy step to take. I don't think we know what the obstacles are to obtaining permits for co-mining rare earth elements with coal. I think that's probably a little bit easier path. - I mean, it seems to me that you are mining coal. There is. - Good. - Is that too simplistic a view? - It's probably a bit simplistic. But I think you could go in and modify the existing permits and regulations and make them acceptable. So I see it as a path of least resistance. - What about the environmental concerns of trying to capture rare earth elements from coal or coal ash or even new rare earth element mines, so to speak? - Any time you are going to extract and process something, it must be environmentally friendly or acceptable to the environment, right?

And that's what we do here in the US: create those regulatory frameworks to protect our environment. And so there are obstacles, but I don't see them as insurmountable. - Thorium is a potentially byproduct of... - K.V, yes. - Which is radioactive. - Good. - For example. Are there other environmental concerns that concern you? - So you mention that it is in thorium, thorium is in traditional deposits like the Bear Lodge. Contains thorium. Then you have to deal with radioactivity. Some of the unconventional deposits like coal and we are looking at phosphates. Many of them do not have thorium.

So it's not a big deal. - Are there other states in the country that are getting into this? There is a recognition, like Wyoming, that either this is a national security issue, we have to step up. We have opportunities to do it. - Absolutely rare earth elements, is the new buzzword. And if you're a fossil energy economy like Wyoming and they've raised dollars to work on rare earth elements and coal, you're interested. - So Kentucky, Pennsylvania. - Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia. - West Virginia is also studying acid mine drainage as a way to extract rare earth elements.

The Mountain Pass mine in California produces about 15% of the world's production of rare earth elements in recent years alone. There are near mine in Texas and Alaska. So it's... There's potential here. You just need to get going. - Is this a race or is it a matter of needing to put all hands on deck to lead the United States to rare earth independence, so to speak? - So there is a race between states, but there is also an opportunity to team up, collaborate and do things on a national level to advance these industries. - Scott, what has the state of Wyoming done to support this effort? - So through the School of Energy Resources, when we supported some seed funding programs to start rare earth element research, policy analysis.

We have a very mine-friendly state. So for the people who are developing the Bear Lodge deposit, I think the legal framework is there for them to carry out that project. I think there is an opportunity to work with local economic development groups to develop some of the frameworks at the local level and the public acceptance that could be achieved at the local level to help boost some of these industries. For example, we have not invested many dollars in a research program. Most of those dollars come from the federal government. So I think there is an opportunity in difficult times for the state of Wyoming, but I also think there is an opportunity to invest in research, both in exploration and extraction of rare earth elements. - Do we know if the American Rescue Plan, as we learn more about each moment, could be useful here through dollars perhaps from the Department of Energy, for example? - Yes.

That's why there are several funding programs offered through the Department of Energy to help direct those dollars toward research. And so we have a couple of proposals pending, hopefully, if they get funded, they'll give us a few dollars to help push some of this forward. - You had a crystal ball. - Yes. - And everything went well and without problems in that crystal ball. Do you think when Wyoming could, if at all, see rare earth element mining in northeastern Wyoming? - I think they could see it in five to seven years. In northeast Wyoming the research has already been done.

The resource is known. They recently received funding for a pilot. To see if they can extract the rare earths from that deposit. So probably more over the seven year period, but it's... As you know, you can get to 10 pretty quickly. - Senator Joe Manchin, along with others, Lisa Murkowski and Senator Capito, have introduced the Rare Earth Element Advanced Carbon Technologies Act. - Yes. - Is that important? And is it important that that be considered sooner rather than later? - It is extremely important. As I said, without it, there really is no research money to help support this effort.

I think maybe the most important thing they did was try to extend it for 10 years. That gives you a consistent amount of dollars each year to grow this incrementally. - Only a priority of the Biden administration? You think? - I think it's bipartisan. I really do. I think from a national security standpoint, from an energy security standpoint, I think it's a bipartisan issue. - What if China comes and undermines anything the US or Wyoming tries to do again? - Any basic resource will be subject to global market forces. And you can't insulate yourself against that very easily.

So I have no doubt that starting an industry is going to be really difficult when there are operators who have been doing it for a long time and control the entire market. So some things we've thought about here at the national level are setting maybe some standards, some environmental standards, maybe some labor standards that would allow companies to purchase rare earth elements. Let's say domestically we could produce a rare earth element and we could do it to a certain environmental standard. We could show that this is done in ethical labor markets and we could put a little stamp on it.

And that would allow your Apples or Teslas or other large companies the ability to purchase a certified product. I think that's something that could help boost a national industry. - Do you also believe that this will be an industry that will need to be subsidized or supported directly by the United States government to meet its need to... I guess, have the necessary elements for national security and for other uses? - I don't really see it without some kind of help, right? The market is... Market forces are too difficult right now. - What is happening with lithium in Wyoming?

Because there is lithium in Wyoming. - Sure. Therefore, you can expand rare earth elements to include critical minerals. Lithium is definitely a critical mineral. It is one of those battery minerals like nickel and cobalt. We have lithium in Wyoming. It is mainly associated with water co-produced with oil and gas. So we did some research and found... - So the question is: are there rare earth elements in the water used for oil and gas production? - There is. There is. But as a strict rare earth element, we find them only at the parts per billion level. We find them in every water we sample. - It is not viable.

Although it is not viable. - But only very, very minimal quantities. - How about lithium? -But lithium can be found in about one hundred parts per million. So depending on the extraction technologies, and again, is the value added to oil and gas production? Or do you need to be independent? One hundred parts per million is probably doubtful from an economic point of view. - Scott, if you were a student here at the University of Wyoming, what field of research would you go into where you could participate in some of the research being done here? - Sure.

We work a lot with the geology department, so there are economic geologists there. We work a lot with chemical engineering and the engineering department. So if you are an engineering student, you would fit perfectly into the rare earth element research program. We work a lot with the business faculty and the law and physics faculty. - So, to clarify things, Scott, where do you think the university itself is going in this investigation? Are you in a... Are you stuck now? Is there a lot more to do and the university needs to be aggressive, so to speak, and pursue what the university's role will be here in the next five or six years?

Would you say? - We are accelerating. Therefore, many more federal dollars are being made available for research. So we will compete for them. And what we really want to do is get things out of the lab and into the field for pilot testing. - Well, Scott, it's been a pleasure. It's certainly an area, I think it's less known in Wyoming, but it couldn't be more important to our country and, frankly, even to the world. So it will be interesting to see where this goes. - Yes. Thanks for having me. It's a very exciting industry and I see huge growth in it over the next few years. - And thank you for your time and for joining us at the Wyoming Chronicle. - Yes, thanks. (dramatic music playing) (bright music playing) - This program was funded in part by a grant from Newman's Own Foundation.

Working to nourish the common good by donating all profits from Newman's Own food and beverage products to charitable organizations seeking to make the world a better place. More information is available at NewmansOwnFoundation.org. - Funding for this program is made possible in part by the Wyoming Humanities Council, which helps Wyoming take a closer look at life through the humanities, thinkwy.org, and members of the WyomingPBS Foundation. Thanks for your support.