A mysterious type of magma found in extinct volcanoes scattered around the world may contain an abundant supply of rare earth elements, crucial ingredients for electric vehicles, wind turbines and other clean technologies, according to a report published in September 2024.
Rare earths such as lanthanum, neodymium and terbium are crucial in helping the world break its long, destructive relationship with planet-warming fossil fuels.
These materials — so-called rare earths — are not actually that rare, but they can be difficult to extract because they are usually found in low concentrations. As demand for them increases, many countries are racing to find new sources to break their dependence on China, which currently dominates the supply chain.
The new study “It potentially opens up a new avenue for rare earth extraction,” said Michael Anenburg, author and researcher at Australian National University.
The research was inspired by the discovery last year of a huge deposit of rare earths in Kiruna, in the Swedish Arctic, a mining town that sits on a huge mass of iron ore, formed around 1.6 billion years ago after intense activity. volcanic.
For scientists at the Australian National University and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, this raised a big question: Why were the rare earths there?
They wanted to understand whether this was “a geological accident, or whether there is something inherent to those iron-rich volcanoes that makes them rich in rare earths?” Anenburg told CNN .
They couldn’t visit one to find out — this type of volcano is incredibly rare. “We have never seen iron-rich magma come out of an active volcano, but we know that some extinct volcanoes, which are millions of years old, have had this enigmatic type of eruption,” Anenburg said.
So the scientists simulated a magma chamber in their laboratory using a synthetic rock with a composition similar to those from these extinct volcanoes, placing it in a pressurized oven and heating it to extremely high temperatures.
Once the rock melted and became “magmatic,” the iron-rich magma absorbed all of the rare earth elements from its surrounding environment, according to the study, which concluded that this iron-rich magma was up to 200 times more efficient. in the concentration of rare earths than the magma that commonly erupts from common volcanoes.
The findings suggest there may be unexplored deposits of rare earths in extinct volcanoes around the world, including in the United States, Chile and Australia.
Many of these sites are already explored for iron ore, making them a potential “win-win” for companies and the environment, Anenburg said. Companies can get more value from the mine and “we may no longer need to extract resources from a new place,” he said.
The study takes an interesting approach, said Lingli Zhou, assistant professor of energy-critical metals at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. “They start from the laboratory and then try to mimic a natural environment, to understand how these rare earths can actually accumulate in one small place throughout the crust.”
It will be valuable information for geologists in the field to help them find rich, economically viable deposits that could help diversify the rare earth supply chain, she told CNN .
Rare earth mining has been marked by environmental problems due to the use of toxic chemicals that can pollute soil and groundwater. Human rights groups have also reported allegations of human rights abuses in the supply chain, including child labor.
Some experts have suggested that there should be more focus on recycling rare earth elements rather than mining.
A recent study found that materials from old cell phones, electric vehicles and other sources could provide a huge, overlooked source of rare earths that could drastically reduce the need for mining.
This content was originally published in Mysterious magma from extinct volcanoes could fuel clean energy sources on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
Charles Grill is a tech-savvy writer with over 3 years of experience in the field. He writes on a variety of technology-related topics and has a strong focus on the latest advancements in the industry. He is connected with several online news websites and is currently contributing to a technology-focused platform.
