INL, U.S. Critical Materials agree to develop new rare earth processing methods

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has signed an agreement with Salt Lake City-based U.S. Critical Materials Corp., to engage in a multi-phase collaborative project to develop a process for the extraction of rare earth metals from carbonatite ore. The process will involve a combination of conventional, newly developed (within the past decade) and emerging materials handling and separations processes.

The two companies are particularly focused on developing solutions for dealing with and solving the environmental issues related to mining and processing. The need for developing these solutions has become highly significant to the security of the United States because of the current dependence on Chinese supply and processing of Please log in to see the rest of this story.