The deep sea holds vast mineral wealth. However, most valuable elements lie in international waters, outside any one country’s territory.
Articles on Rare earth elements
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Coal mines are notorious sources of acid mine drainage, but the orange sludge that threatens water supplies and wildlife also contains valuable rare earth elements.
A 1951 defense agreement between the United States and Denmark allows the US to build military installations on Greenland to protect the region.
The US depends on imports of over 40 critical minerals and Donald Trump is looking for trade deals on his terms.
Greenland’s rare earth element deposits may be among the world’s largest by volume.
Combining diplomacy with deals has long been a feature of US foreign policy, but Donald Trump seems to have taken that to a new level.
At the same time Australia has inked a deal with the US on critical minerals, it’s proposing cuts to facilities that underpin its clean energy ambitions.
Canadian officials have pledged more than $43 billion in subsidies to create new low-carbon supply chains. A new study identifies some problems.
Rare earth elements are tiny yet essential parts of many of the technologies you use every day. New techniques are making their recovery from US sources increasingly viable.
The US has many of the same minerals Ukraine does – but prefers to import them.
The Danish-controlled island is coveted by some external actors who see the vast territory as a vector for precious minerals and great-power politics.
Rare earth elements aren’t necessarily rare – they’re just difficult to find in economically viable deposits.
A new geochemical discovery could lead to a cleaner way to extract the rare earth elements needed for the transition to renewable energy.
Electric vehicle batteries, wind turbine generators and hydrogen fuel cells are among technologies likely to be affected by the conflict.
Afghanistan has vast mineral resources that have long attracted interest from outside countries, but a lack of infrastructure and political instability means they’re unlikely to aid its economy now.
China has a monopoly on rare earth metals, so where will the materials for the UK’s wind revolution come from?
The digital economy is taking off. So are the greenhouse gas emissions, electronic waste and pollution associated with it.
Exactly 150 years after Mendeleev’s classic formulation, it’s time for one for the resource-hungry 21st century.
Questions about supplies of rare-earth elements, crucial in high-tech devices, pushed researchers to look to industrial waste for new sources of the key materials.
A geologist explains the basics about these elements, which are crucial for modern electronics.
Top contributors
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Research Fellow, Birmingham Centre for Strategic Elements & Critical Materials, University of Birmingham
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Lecturer in International Studies, University of Washington
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Reader in Environmental Science, University of Hull
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Lecturer in Applied and Environmental Geology, University of Leicester
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Professor of Sustainability, Rochester Institute of Technology
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Chair in Sustainable Global Resources, UCL
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Professor of Geology, Adelaide University
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Associate Professor of Sustainability, Rochester Institute of Technology
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Research Fellow, Melbourne School of Government, The University of Melbourne
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Assistant professor, University of Nottingham
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Graduate Research Assistant in Sustainability, Rochester Institute of Technology
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Lecturer in Applied and Environmental Geology, University of Leicester
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Professor of Geosciences, Franklin & Marshall College
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Principal Research Fellow - Materials, Sheffield Hallam University
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Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering, RMIT University