Have we been mining wrong this whole time?

I've heard for a very long time that someday archeologists would have a field day digging into our landfills.

Now it looks like our waste is useful for more than just learning about us. It's useful for recovering trace amounts of rare earth metals. 

This video begins with a look at Phoenix Tailings, a company that is trying to find rare earth metals in tailing ponds from mines around the country. If this works at scale, this could clean up massive post-mining waste dumps all around the world.

It then moves on to explore the possibility of recovering metals from acidic mine water waste like that from Berkley Pit, and the video closes with companies that are exploring how to recover metals from electronic waste (e-waste) with a look at the environmental costs and economics of all these proceses. 

Electric Vehicles' Battery Problem

"To replace the UK (not the UK) 31.5 million gasoline cars will require 236,000 tons of lithium carbonate." ~ quote from about 1:00 in the above video.

That would - again, according to the video - require all the world's output for 9 months.

And that metal comes from some countries with awful human rights records and workers' protections.

Then, if we mine the US's lithium, we have to use up water and leach arsenic into the water supply of Nevada...and dig into land holy to Native Americans...and destroy habitat for endangered animals.

It's the frickin' Kobayashi Maru, man.

Then we have to look at the cobalt mining.

To quote a magnet I got from the University of Utah, "what's your is mined," but clearly what's mined is bad for the planet and people.

12-28 - The dawn of the age of critical materials: Alex King at TEDxDesMoines

"Do you ever lie awake at night and worry that we'll run out of all the stuff that we need to make things?"

Well, I didn't used to, Alex, but your video kind of freaked me out.

If we had a little more neodymium, we could get more wind turbines running and turning...but we can't find enough neodymium.

If we could find more rhenium, we could get jet engines manufactured more easily...but we can't find enough rhenium.

If we just managed a bit more terbium and europium, we'd have better, more efficient fluorescent lights (admittedly, a likely dated fact in today's LED-lit world)...but we can't find enough terbium or europium.

If we just had a little more of a whole lot of elements, we'd be better able to make more smart phones...but we can't get enough of all sorts elements.

I feel like we've been on the 'rare earth elements are rare' train before, but it looks like we're going going to be on the hunt for a fair while.

...and the final story about the change from the bronze age is chilling - though the ending is a painfully abrupt.