Rare Metal
What are the effects of having rare earth metals removed from the earth?
The most direct affect comes when these minerals a surface mined. This creates a huge scar on the surface that is very disruptive to the environment.
Subsurface mining obviously doesn’t have that problem.
The real problems come into effect when the minerals containing the metals that you’re looking for begin the serious extracting and refining process. Many (perhaps most, or even all) refining methods will, eventually, involve some kind of acid wash. Acid mine drainage is a serious problem, because of lackluster pollution control measures. These acids will directly kill off vegetation, contaminate groudwater so that it sickens or kills animals who live in or drink it. It can even get into a major aquifer, where it can threaten human health unless remediation (or other) measures are taken to keep it out of the water supply.
Water is always used somewhere in the process. This needs to be cleaned before returning to where it came from – something the companies often fail to do.
Even just mechanical separation and smelting techniques can cause pollution depending on how and where the excess material is disposed of.
The rare earth metals themselves are not a problem. It’s the refining and purification process that’s the problem.
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