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July/august 2017 www.coalage.com 33 reclaiming rare earths continued with processing that make the material unrealistic." Liabilities means handling what is ef- fectively nuclear waste in accords with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Com- mission's 10 CFR 40 Part 75, Safeguards on Nuclear Material. Due to it, heavy mineral sand miners "currently dispose of massive amounts of high-value heavy rare earths every single day on purpose," Kennedy said. "The entire REEs supply and value chain was terminated worldwide because of this regulation. China picked up all the production because China is not a mem- ber of the NRC or the IAEA." Prior to the regulation, America's supply of REEs came from heavy min- eral sands, phosphate or iron deposits, Kennedy said. "It was always this free byproduct from some other commodi- ty," he said. "When this 1980 regulation came along, the suppliers and end us- ers realized that they had been dealing with source material for decades and that if somebody inquired about their histor- ical disposal practices they may end up being a superfund site and being sued out of business." For this reason, Kennedy said he views the DOE's funding opportunity as strictly political. "It reflects a legiti- mate desire of congressmen and sena- tors in coal states to relieve some pain," he said. "From an economic and a via- bility standpoint, it is unrealistic." That is because concentrating REEs means concentrating actinides. "Coal-based rare earth extracts will also have a source material issue," he said. "Why would a coal company that is already financial- ly struggling take on a nuclear source material liability?" Marchese, however, disagrees. "Not all REE deposits have radionuclides," he said. "Based on the testing we've done of the coal overburden, the uranium and thorium are virtually undetectable." TMR will design an environmentally re- sponsible plant, he said. "The process is very efficient, with a minimal environ- mental footprint." Silver said not all REEs are miner- alogically bound to actinides. "You're failing to mention the ionic clays in Southern China that are not radioactive" that contain heavy REEs, he said. Currently, DOE is conducting re- search seeking to solve the actinides problem, Szymanski said. "DOE's re- search addresses the production and management of waste products, like the potential generation of radioactive ele- ments uranium and thorium." Making America Autonomous Again Clearly, the stage is set for a hero to emerge. Somebody will arrive at a solution that starts to unwind China's global REEs value chain hegemony. It could come from a private/public part- nership involving the DOE, academia and American coal miners. It might come from a nationalized processing lab. It might come from the Kenne- dy team's lobbying efforts for a multi- national cooperative to root a REEs value chain stateside. The three camps are not mutually exclusive. Whatever solution emerges, it will have to survive whatever China does in response, Kennedy said. China has demonstrated willingness to flood the market to bankrupt a competitor, he said. Accordingly, the acquisition of Moun- tain Pass by a group backed by a Chinese firm appears to be either psychological warfare or an egregious purchasing er- ror, Kennedy said. "I hope they like their desert real estate," he said. "Good luck building condos there." WIRTGEN GmbH ยท Reinhard-Wirtgen-Str. 2 . D-53578 Windhagen . T: +49 26 45 / 131 0 Blasting? No! Safety? Yes! www.wirtgen.com/mining 2500 SM: Surface Mining combines safe mining operations with modern cost-effectiveness: the 2500 SM replaces the entire equipment otherwise needed for blasting, drilling and pre-crushing. It cuts costs, delivers mined raw materials of higher quality, and ensures more efficient exploitation of the deposits. Take advantage of innovative solutions from the technology leader. www.wirtgen.com A WIRTGEN GROUP COMPANY