Since the era of President Jimmy Carter and the 1970s oil crisis, the United States has been steadfast in its pursuit of energy independence.
Among the many directives issued under Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” initiative is an order for the Secretary of the Interior to instruct the director of the USGS to “consider updating the survey’s list of critical minerals, including for the potential of including uranium.”
Despite these efforts, the U.S. continues to rely heavily on China for rare earth elements (REEs), with the country supplying nearly three-quarters of its demand.
China also dominates the refining of neodymium and praseodymium—key metals used in electric vehicle (EV) magnets—handling 89% of global production.
Further complicating matters, U.S. REE imports from countries like Estonia (6%), Japan (3%), and France (3%) are largely dependent on chemical substances and mineral concentrates originating from China.
This leaves the U.S. in a vulnerable position, particularly in the face of trade tensions with a key global competitor.
China has demonstrated its willingness to leverage this dependency, as seen in 2023 when it imposed an export ban on technology related to rare earth extraction and separation, aiming to protect its domestic industry.
Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have released new estimates indicating that coal ash in the U.S. contains 11 million tons of rare earth elements—nearly eight times the country’s known domestic reserves.
Long dismissed as industrial waste, coal ash is a powdery byproduct generated from burning coal for fuel. This study marks the first national assessment of coal ash as a potential resource for rare earth extraction.
A Promising Resource
“This really exemplifies the ‘trash to treasure’ mantra,” said Bridget Scanlon, co-lead author of the study and a research professor at UT Austin’s Bureau of Economic Geology. “We’re basically trying to close the cycle and use waste and recover resources in the waste, while at the same time reducing environmental impacts.”
Unlike traditional mining, extracting rare earth elements from coal ash offers a significant advantage: the combustion process has already separated the minerals from their original ore, reducing the need for energy-intensive refining.
“There’s huge volumes of this stuff all over the country,” said Davin Bagdonas, a research scientist at the University of Wyoming. “And the upfront process of extracting the (mineral host) is already taken care of for us.”
However, not all coal ash deposits are equal in terms of rare earth content. The research reveals that different regions contain varying concentrations, which impacts how efficiently the elements can be extracted.
For example, coal ash from the Appalachian Basin has the highest REE concentration, averaging 431 milligrams per kilogram.
In contrast, coal from the Powder River Basin has a lower concentration (264 mg/kg), but its extractability is much higher—about 70% compared to only ~30% for Appalachian coal ash—making it a more viable candidate for large-scale recovery.
Coal Ash in US
The Quest for Critical Minerals
Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 relatively scarce elements that play a crucial role in various industries.
They are essential for manufacturing consumer electronics such as smartphones and PCs, electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies like wind turbines, medical devices, and even military hardware.
The glass industry is one of the largest consumers of REEs—lanthanum, for instance, comprises up to 50% of cell phone and digital camera lenses.
An average hybrid EV contains roughly 10-15 kilograms of lanthanum in its battery. Meanwhile, elements like neodymium and samarium enhance the strength of magnets, allowing them to be smaller and more efficient.
Trump has long recognized the importance of securing critical minerals for the U.S. economy and national security.
Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected a proposal from Trump to acquire roughly 50% of Ukraine’s rare earth mineral rights. Ukraine’s mineral reserves—valued at several trillion dollars—include lithium, titanium, and graphite, all of which are vital for high-tech industries.
The proposal, delivered by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, was framed as compensation for Washington’s support to Kyiv, with Trump arguing that Ukraine owed the U.S. $500 billion in resources for past military aid.
However, Zelenskyy sought better terms, insisting on U.S. and European security guarantees. Trump’s proposal did not include provisions for future assistance, which Zelenskyy considers essential.
In response, Ukraine has developed a counterproposal offering a mineral partnership in exchange for security guarantees, a plan that was announced earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Australia’s rare earths developer, Lynas Rare Earths (OTCPK:LYSCF) (OTCPK:LYSDY), has asserted that it possesses the necessary rare earths to supply Western markets and the expertise to produce them economically.
“Our view, to get guaranteed supply in the West, is to buy products from Lynas because we have it. We have the resource, and we have the skills to process that resource cost efficiently,” Lynas CEO Amanda Lacaze stated last month.
