This perspective paper examines whether asteroids could become future sources of rare earth elements, platinum group metals, and other strategic materials, while positioning the Moon as a nearer-term testbed for in-situ resource utilization technologies. The authors conclude that lunar processing is considerably more technologically mature than asteroid mining, which remains largely conceptual and will require major advances in autonomous processing, transport, governance, sustainability assessment, and techno-economic analysis.
Researchers estimate that waste streams from Alberta’s Athabasca Oil Sands Region contain substantial quantities of titanium, zirconium, rare earth elements, vanadium, and nickel that could represent secondary critical mineral resources. However, complex mineralogy, stable metal-bearing compounds, environmental risks, and regulatory challenges mean economically viable recovery will require substantial technological development.
Western Australia increased hard-rock lithium production tenfold between 2010 and 2024, supplying 37% of global lithium production as major projects combined large resources, rapid development, financing, and established mining infrastructure. The study found that project quality, scale, market conditions, and regional capability shaped commercial performance, while domestic lithium hydroxide refining continued to face substantial technical and economic challenges.
The United States has substantial rare earth resources and could sharply expand domestic production through new mining, separation, and recycling projects. However, limited refining and metal-production capacity remains a major bottleneck to building a fully integrated rare earth supply chain.
The global race for critical minerals is reshaping energy, technology, trade, and geopolitical relationships as major powers compete for increasingly strategic resources. The analysis warns that concentrated processing, technological uncertainty, environmental damage, and weak governance could undermine the development benefits available to mineral-rich economies.
Researchers review how AI combines mineral chemistry, geophysical surveys, satellite imagery, geological maps, and text to support the search for mineral deposits, including critical mineral resources. The preprint identifies mineral prospectivity mapping as the most mature application, while fully integrated models spanning all exploration data remain a future goal.
Researchers analyzed four fine coal-waste samples from Spain, Poland, and Slovenia and found total rare-earth element concentrations of approximately 160-222 ppm. Detailed testing of the Spanish La Matona sample showed that conventional physical separation and exploratory leaching produced little enrichment or extraction, limiting immediate recovery under the tested conditions.
A working paper finds that rare earth element prices follow a distinctive spike-and-revert pattern, with sharp increases followed by prolonged declines toward long-term levels. The authors link this behavior to China’s dominant, state-controlled production system, limited supply responsiveness, low recycling rates, and few viable substitutes.
A national-scale mineral potential assessment mapped areas across Australia that are prospective for unconformity-related rare-earth-element systems. The framework reduced the exploration search area by up to 95% while highlighting underexplored Precambrian basin margins as potential heavy rare earth targets.
The study found that projected U.S. light-duty EV adoption could cut life cycle GHG emissions by 61%, primary energy use by 20%, and total material extraction by 34% compared with an ICEV-only counterfactual. However, EVs increase demand for metals and critical minerals, making battery durability, recycling, and responsible mining central to maximizing climate gains.
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