46 Research to Accelerate Recovery of Critical Minerals from Primary and Secondary Resources
Innovative technology is needed to mine critical minerals to meet unprecedented demand. This session invites to present research in characterization, extraction, separation, in-situ recovery, and related areas that accelerate the recovery of critical minerals from traditional, secondary and unconventional resources.
Sunday, 19 October 2025
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
HBGCC, 216AB
"Innovation" in Critical Mineral Production
Paper number: 46-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 1:55 PM – 2:15 PM
Authors
Abstract
For decades, it has been consistently noted that interruption of strategic and critical mineral supplies would cause a historic disruption to U.S. industry. Although the speed of technological innovation and advancement is faster than at any time in history, traditional processes and timelines for advancing concepts from ideas through isolated scaled testing—from bench to pilot to full-scale deployment or integration —are antiquated and inefficient. Additionally, many large-scale industrial innovations are not well suited for commercialization, making it difficult for industry to develop a value proposition for significant investment. To seize new opportunities and reshore the supply chain, we must challenge traditional views, training, and processes for how we innovate, integrate, and accelerate technological development and deployment in existing industrial systems. We must also question and re-envision how we view “innovation” to produce materials and products in a fraction of the time. We will present a perspective on “innovation” and potential opportunities and challenges to the current paradigm for how the U.S. can accelerate rebuilding the supply chain infrastructure, which in turn will accelerate reshoring the critical mineral industry.
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6
doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-414101
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