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- The global supply-chain crisis has caused mining giant Rio Tinto to resort to sifting through mineral sludge.
- The sludge is in a giant copper pit near Salt Lake City, Utah, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- Waste from the mine includes tellurium, which is used in solar panels.
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The global supply-chain crisis has caused one mining company to resort to sifting through mineral sludge to feed hungry technology companies scrambling for critical materials.
London-based Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation, has been going through waste produced at its Kennecott mine, a giant copper pit near Salt Lake City, Utah, the Wall Street Journal first reported Monday.
The waste contains tellurium, a copper-based alloy, as well as other key minerals that have long been passed over by miners who favored more sought-after commodities like copper, according to the WSJ. But now that supply-chain disruptions don't look like they are going to be resolved soon, such minerals have become more valuable.
In June, President Joe Biden said he will form a task force to address the multiple compounding shortages hounding the global economy. This included critical minerals.
Tellurium – often alloyed to aluminum, copper, lead, or tin – is used in solar panels, and the US depends on imports, especially those from dominant producer China. And beyond tellurium, Rio Tinto hopes to extract more metals from the Kennecott mine.
CEO Jakob Stausholm told the Journal that Kennecott's waste pond contains nearly half of the 35 minerals the US has designated as critical to national security, and Rio Tinto could produce 10 of those from the mine. These include bismuth, rhenium, and indium, he said, minerals necessary to produce smartphones and medicines.
Stausholm is also exploring his options in Canada and Australia.