Geoscience BC has announced a new project to examine how rare-earth elements (REEs) – crucial to personal electronics, renewable energy generation and defence technologies – could be extracted from the province’s coal deposits and coal tailings facilities.
Coal deposits have been identified and studied in the US and elsewhere as a potential source of REEs. Geoscience BC said in a statement on Thursday that coal deposits could become a viable source, but that little work had been done to characterise and quantify the REE content of these deposits.
“Traditional rare-earth ore deposits are fast depleting, they are projected to meet demand for only the next 15 to 20 years,” said project leader, Dr Maria Holuszko, assistant professor of mineral processing at the University of British Columbia.
“The purpose of this research is to characterize and quantify the REE and their mode of occurrence in the East Kootenay coal deposits, as well as to study the possible extraction of these elements,” she added.
During the research project, Holuszko’s team will examine samples collected from British Columbia coalfields, quantify and characterise the REE found within them, and test potential extraction processes at the laboratory scale.