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"Theoretically, an American company could use this technique to mine coal and coal byproducts for rare-earth metals and compete with Chinese mining," said Xu. Furthermore, for U.S. national security purposes "it is probably reasonable to have alternate sources of rare-earth metals to avoid being at the mercy of a foreign supply."
Courtesy of Sandia Labs. Citric acid is the secret sauce.
Environmentally hazardous coal waste diminished by citric acid
In one of nature's unexpected bounties, a harmless food-grade solvent has been used to extract highly sought rare-earth metals from coal ash, reducing the amount of ash without damaging the environment and at the same time increasing an important national resource.
phys.org