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Title: The Occurrence and Concentration of Rare Earth Elements in Acid Mine Drainage and Treatment By-products: Part 1—Initial Survey of the Northern Appalachian Coal Basin

Journal Article · · Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. West Virginia Water Research Inst., Morgantown, WV (United States)
  2. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States). Virginia Tech Mining and Minerals Engineering
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The conventional rare earth element (REE) industry has historically sought to develop ore deposits where geologic processes have produced mineralized zones with commercially attractive REE concentrations. These deposits are extremely uncommon, particularly in the USA. Given the criticality of these materials and the need for sustainable domestic supply, the current research seeks to leverage other autogenous processes that lead to concentrated REE resources. One such process is the generation of acid mine drainage (AMD). AMD is very common in many coal mining districts and results from the exposure and oxidation of pyrite during mining. During the generation and migration of AMD, liberated sulfuric acid mobilizes several metal ions including REEs. Treatment of AMD is required under U.S.C §1251, the Clean Water Act, and often consists of neutralization, oxidation, and metal hydroxide precipitation. To investigate the deportment of REEs during this process, a field sampling campaign was undertaken, whereby the concentration of REEs in AMD and AMD precipitates was measured directly. In the nine sites evaluated in this study, the REE concentrations of the precipitates varied from 29 to 1286 ppm with an average of 517 ppm among the sampled sites. The individual elements were enriched compared with the associated bulk Northern Appalachian (NAPP) coal material by factors ranging from 3 to 15. Furthermore, the distribution of REEs in all precipitate samples favored the heavy REEs (HREEs) when compared with traditional REE ores. Finally, this research represents the first part of multi-part research endeavor to characterize, classify, and determine the practicality of refining REEs from AMD and its by-products.

Research Organization:
West Virginia Water Research Inst., Morgantown, WV (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
Grant/Contract Number:
FE0026927
OSTI ID:
1577094
Journal Information:
Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, Vol. 36, Issue 5; ISSN 2524-3462
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 51 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (1)

The Occurrence and Concentration of Rare Earth Elements in Acid Mine Drainage and Treatment Byproducts. Part 2: Regional Survey of Northern and Central Appalachian Coal Basins journal October 2019

Figures / Tables (14)

Table 1(p. 8)table Table 1
Table 2(p. 11)table Table 2
Table 3(p. 12)table Table 3
Table 4(p. 14)table Table 4
Table 5(p. 16)table Table 5
Table 6(p. 17)table Table 6
Fig. 1(p. 28)figure Fig. 1
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Fig. 6(p. 33)figure Fig. 6
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Fig. 8(p. 35)figure Fig. 8

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