By David Pendered

Aug. 10 – Georgia Tech is to conduct a federal effort to identify potential critical minerals to extract in the Atlantic Seaboard Plain with an award funded by the federal Department of Energy.

The DOE is conducting a nationwide search for alternative sources of critical minerals and materials now sourced from foreign countries. The goal is to find recoverable amounts of minerals and extract them from the ground or areas where they’ve been deposited as waste, according to a DOE statement.

Here’s how the DOE describes the project:

• “Realizing the value of secondary and unconventional feedstocks, such as coal and coal by-products, effluent waters from oil and gas development, and acid mine drainage will enable the United States to rebuild domestic supply chains for critical minerals and materials.
• “By focusing on abundant American secondary and unconventional sources, these investments will support dependable and enduring supplies for American manufacturing and production of technologies essential to clean energy and our nation’s defense.”

Tech’s participation was announced in the second round of funding. The first round provided a total of $45 million to six universities, covering much of the western regions of the country. Round two included Georgia Tech, to study the Atlantic Seaboard plain, and the University of Nevado, Reno to look for recoverable deposits in the Pacific Coast Basin and Range.

According to DOE’s statement, Tech is to conduct research to identify the location of sedimentary minerals including:

• Kaolin,
• Bauxite,
• Heavy minerals,
• Phosphate
• Residue from mining and coal combustion;
• Brownfield sites to identify the composition, mineral types, critical minerals forms and characteristics of rare earth elements.

Georgia Tech minerals phosphate

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