UAF will lead a project to mine critical minerals out of old mine waste

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will lead a new federally funded effort to pull critical minerals out of the tailings left behind by past mining, recovering valuable metals from waste rock that earlier processing left in the ground. It's one of 12 National Science Foundation innovation projects announced nationally, starting with $15 million over two years and potentially growing to $160 million over a decade.

The project, led by UAF's Lee Ann Munk, aims to develop new ways to find, mine and process the minerals. It would use artificial intelligence to help locate deposits, research biological methods for extracting metals, and build out processing and purification, while creating mining-related job training in rural Alaska.

The appeal for Alaska is supply. The state holds 56 of the 60 minerals the U.S. Geological Survey considers essential to the economy and national security, most of which the country now imports for use in batteries, computer chips, medical equipment, power grids and defense systems. Reprocessing old tailings offers a way to get at some of those minerals without opening new ground.

Alaska Native corporations are among the project's partners, and their landholdings and business lines stand to be shaped by how critical-minerals work develops. Rural residents are the intended beneficiaries of the job training, but they also live closest to any mining that follows.

Critical-minerals development is contested on exactly that point. Alaska Community Action on Toxics, an environmental health group, argues that large-scale mining can contaminate lands and waters with heavy metals and toxic chemicals, harming subsistence foods, fish and wildlife habitat, and community health, and says permitting should account for tribal consultation and subsistence protections. Reprocessing tailings is aimed partly at reducing new disturbance, though it carries its own handling risks for the waste involved.