Electrokinetic Mining
16-01-2025
07:30 AM
1 min read

Overview:
A research team developed electrokinetic mining (EKM), an eco-friendly method for extracting rare earth elements.
About Electrokinetic Mining:
- It is a novel technique which uses Electrokinetic i.e the application of a direct or alternating electric field to accelerate the migration of movable species, such as metals, water, and particles.
- Issue with present technique:
- Currently, heavy rare earth elements (HREE) are dominantly mined from ion-adsorption rare earth deposits (IADs) discovered in South China, and the regional mining produces and supports 95% of the global demand of HREEs.
- However, the conventional mining applies excessive usage of ammonium-salt-based leaching agents to recover HREEs from IADs, such technique exhibits low efficiency and devastating environmental impact on the local eco-system.
- Advantages of Electrokinetic Mining
- It reduces leaching agent usage by 80%, and energy consumption by 60%.
- High recovery rate: Its recovery rate exceeds 95% which marks a breakthrough in sustainable mining.
- It can simultaneously help reduce the environmental impacts and improve the recovery rate of REEs.

Q1: What is electrolysis mining?
Electrolysis uses a direct electric current to create a chemical reaction. This process is used to produce pure copper metal in the final stage of copper extraction from ores after being removed from the ground.
Source: STD