Scientists make stunning discovery while studying material thought to be useless waste: ‘There’s huge volumes of this stuff all over the country’
Ben Raker
Wed, April 23, 2025
Researchers recently uncovered a treasure trove of rare earth elements — crucial materials for everything from smartphones to wind turbines — in waste left over from burning coal. A 2024 study led by scientists from the University of Texas at Austin estimated there’s $8.4 billion worth of rare earth elements in U.S. coal ash. This diamond-in-the-rough discovery could reduce dependency on foreign sources for the valuable materials, as Interesting Engineering reported in March. Click here to read full article from The Cool Down (TCD)
