4 ms·

> They're just very polluting to mine Why exactly is that? I can't see why some polluting process would be common to all of them, and unavoidable.

mirko22 9y ago
I assume it would not be one process common to all of them, but more like with some you will have to mine additional stuff like Thorium which you have nothing to do with later, or you will have to wash them with other chemicals and stuff to separate them, sometimes they are radioactive themselves etc... tedious in any case
xaldir 9y ago
You do not find them individually, which means you have to separate elements with close chemical properties. More often than not, the deposits contains relatively low concentrations of the stuff along with other minerals. To quote Wikipedia¹ > (...) during the extraction of the ores from rocks, a significant amount of water usage and wastewater production. Also, acidic substances are used during the extraction process, which can leach in to the soil and surrounding environment. In addition, due to the low abundance and varying spatial distribution of REEs, the mining process uses a significant amount of energy(...) [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-earth_element#Environmental_Pollution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-earth_element#Environment...
- ianai 9y ago
  So why aren’t they stripping materials from disposed electronics? I’ve heard it’s done, but it doesn’t seem highly common.
  - byproxy 9y ago
    I believe this has been propose as the more economically sound solution : https://wasteadvantagemag.com/old-electronics-could-be-more-profitable-than-literal-gold-mines/ https://wasteadvantagemag.com/old-electronics-could-be-more-...
  - NullPrefix 9y ago
    Because this would feed on and incentivize throw away culture and we do not condone that /s
HarryHirsch 9y ago
There is a step in monazite processing when thorium and its decay products are seperated out. The thorium-containing phosphate mud is surprisingly radioactive.

mirko22 9y ago

I assume it would not be one process common to all of them, but more like with some you will have to mine additional stuff like Thorium which you have nothing to do with later, or you will have to wash them with other chemicals and stuff to separate them, sometimes they are radioactive themselves etc... tedious in any case

xaldir 9y ago

You do not find them individually, which means you have to separate elements with close chemical properties. More often than not, the deposits contains relatively low concentrations of the stuff along with other minerals. To quote Wikipedia¹ > (...) during the extraction of the ores from rocks, a significant amount of water usage and wastewater production. Also, acidic substances are used during the extraction process, which can leach in to the soil and surrounding environment. In addition, due to the low abundance and varying spatial distribution of REEs, the mining process uses a significant amount of energy(...) [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-earth_element#Environmental_Pollution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-earth_element#Environment...

ianai 9y ago
So why aren’t they stripping materials from disposed electronics? I’ve heard it’s done, but it doesn’t seem highly common.
- byproxy 9y ago
  I believe this has been propose as the more economically sound solution : https://wasteadvantagemag.com/old-electronics-could-be-more-profitable-than-literal-gold-mines/ https://wasteadvantagemag.com/old-electronics-could-be-more-...
- NullPrefix 9y ago
  Because this would feed on and incentivize throw away culture and we do not condone that /s

HarryHirsch 9y ago

There is a step in monazite processing when thorium and its decay products are seperated out. The thorium-containing phosphate mud is surprisingly radioactive.