Does mining rare-earth elements pose significant environmental risk?
By Allegra Taylor
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YES
Environmental Protection Agency research highlights the environmental risks of mining rare-earth elements, including leached contaminants that harm plants, animals and humans.
China, one of the world's largest producers of rare-earth elements, estimates that refining one ton of rare earth elements results in 75 cubic meters of acidic wastewater and one ton of radioactive waste residue. Longnan Rare Earths Bureau director Xu Cheng told a Yale University publication it could take "50 to 100 years" for rare-earth mining environments to fully recover.
Rare-earth elements are used to make computers, wind turbines, electric vehicles and other products. Magnets, needed for many electronics products, account for 21% of consumption.
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