Henry Krumb Lecture Series

Mining at DeLamar dates back to the late 1800's and more recently from the 1970's through the 1990's. This presentation will briefly examine past mining and history in the area. But the main focus will be an explanation of Integra Resources work towards re-opening the DeLamar mine. The maiden Preliminary Economic Analysis showed a very robust project, with a Pre-feasibility due in Q4 of 2021. Drilling since has shown excellent exploration results and ample opportunity for growth. DeLamar will rise again.

Rare earth metal production increased to 240,000 metric tons in 2020 which is a 25% increase over the past two years. Future demand from electric car production and renewable energy manufacturing will accelerate the demand even further. Resource and the entire supply chain is an international concern given that China has control over 62% of the world’s metal production and owns most of the intellectual property used through metal production.

In an effort to relieve concerns over supply, the U.S. government is investing in research and development activity to accelerate commercial extraction and recovery of rare earths and critical materials from secondary sources such as coal-based sources. Through funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and the research expertise provided by multiple institutions and production companies, a pilot plant facility has been constructed and used to develop and test various technologies in an effort to prove the economic viability of extracting and purifying rare earths and other critical elements from bituminous coal sources.

Dynamic failure may be defined as the violent ejection of coal or rock within a working area of an underground coal mine. Despite evolving mining techniques and practices, dynamic failures continue to occur. Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed a hierarchical classification decision tree based upon physical characteristics and potential event source(s), as identified through review of the available literature, historical dynamic failure reports, and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) accident and fatality reports.

These findings highlight the differences between regionally based risk factors in contrast to risk factors associated with the seam itself. These geologic dissimilarities resulted in observable differences in dominant modes of dynamic failure between these two regions and have implications toward the application of more targeted risk mitigation practices. Targeted risk mitigation practices can be enacted only once the sources and mechanisms of failure have been identified.

It has been estimated that the amount of coal fly ash (CFA) generated and not reused for commercial purposes in the U.S. is 27 Mt/a. The disposal of such anthropogenic materials in landfill or ash pond has been of environmental concern for decades and resulted in a waste of recoverable resources. Recovering of valuable elements from these waste streams is well aligned with the Waste to Value concept and enhances the sustainability of the current disposal practices. The total rare earth elements (REEs) content of CFA is in the range of 200 to 1220 ppm. However, REEs in CFA are typically encapsulated in a predominant aluminosilicate glassy phase, and their solubilization in acid leaching is, therefore, hindered. In this study, a sequential chemical roasting, water leaching, and acid leaching process was developed for the recovery of REEs from CFA. The process mechanism and optimization are presented.

While the waters of the United States landscape continues to shift in the context of agency rulemaking, the regulated community is now trying to get its arms around whether, and to what extent, federal law controls groundwater in the states.

This lecture will address the ever-present flip-flops of the regulatory agencies and the courts related to WOTUS and analyze prospective outcomes concerning upcoming regulatory changes.