Posted on 01/31/2016 9:01:20 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Rare Earth Salts is one step closer to launching a pilot plant in Beatrice following an announcement this week that it has successfully tested a commercial-size "separation cell."
The startup plans to use new techniques to harvest rare earth elements from would-be mining waste from around the world.
A pilot program, a smaller-scale plant to demonstrate the feasibility of the process, has been in the works to harvest these rare earth elements. This plant would consist of several "cells" separating the elements.
Company officials have been working with a single full-sized cell, and CEO Joseph Brewer said this cell produced as expected, reinforcing his belief a pilot plant would be successful.
"The scale components for us are a necessary piece to decide if we want to move forward or not," he said. "We have confidence in the technology moving forward."
What scientists call the rare earths, a group of 17 elements on the periodic table, are readily found in the earth's crust, similar to copper or cobalt. They are not easily separated, however, leading to the name.....
(Excerpt) Read more at beatricedailysun.com ...
I just want to celebrate.
I take it they have solved the thorium issue?
Rare earth minerals aren’t rare, they’re just difficult to separate. The tiny village (pop. 98) of Elk Creek, Nebraksa happens to have one of the largest and purest deposits of rare earths (particularily Niobium) but prior efforts to mine the material have failed (NioCorp being the most recent). Hopefully Rare Earth Salts will succeed, as 97% of the worlds rare earth metals come from China, and we are terrible when it comes to negotiating with China.
The Alberta Oil Sands are also full of the rare earths, but there has been no easy access to them.
Yep, all the ChiComs have to do is funnel a few thousand dollars of campaign or foundation donations to our politicians through a net work of front companies and they come out on top of the negotiations.
Never seen an article from my home town on here before.
First of all I had to ferret out where the hell Beatrice was—Nebraska—anyhow it would be great if they succeed. Succeed and avoid being bought up by the Chinese.
Or Putin, who now owns 20% of our uranium production.
Bee-AT-triss, I know that much.
Yep, and it’s pronounced Bee-AT-trice, not like the female name ;-) THe Elk Creek formation is a real geological anomaly, a very small, very concentrated area where rare earths exist. I suspect Mulder and Scully could come up with an explantion:
Yer Famous
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