New research documents elevated levels of the critical minerals, needed for energy transition, above and below coal seams in Utah and Colorado
"The model is if you're already moving rock, could you move a little more rock for resources towards energy transition?" Birgenheier said."In those areas, we're finding that the rare earth elements are concentrated in fine-grain shale units, the muddy shales that are above and below the coal seams." The association between coal and REE deposits has been well documented elsewhere, but little data had been previously gathered or analyzed in Utah and Colorado's coal fields.
The team deployed two different methods to record levels of rare earths, expressed in parts per million, or ppm, in the samples. One was a hand-held device for quick readings in the field, the other used Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry, or ICP-MS, in an on-campus lab.