Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory launched a program to study the risks in the supply chain of critical minerals and materials, such as rare earth metals used in high-temperature alloys. wide range of military equipment. It has been reported mining.com.
According to the publication, the Pentagon has allocated $25 million to study the issue to understand the availability of materials and the ability to limit their supply from other countries without compromising US defense capability.
Seven American and international universities and six defense industry representatives took part in the project. Congress earmarked another $7.6 million for his work.
WPI professor Brajendra Mishra said the security of the United States largely depends on the uninterrupted supply of materials of all types, so recovery and recycling play a key role in ensuring the sustainability of the supply chain.
The main tasks of the group are to develop methods for the recovery and recycling of critical materials, apply advanced manufacturing technologies to isolate and recover them, identify processes for recovering metal waste in the field, and study the use of recycled polymer materials.
The program is expected to initiate more than 20 research projects involving more than 100 industry scientists, WPI faculty, and undergraduate and graduate students.
Previously reportedA Norwegian research team has discovered substantial metal and mineral reserves on the country’s continental shelf.
According to preliminary estimates, deposits containing 38 million tons of copper and 45 million tons of zinc have been discovered in the Norwegian and Greenland Seas.
Also found on the shelf were approximately 24 million tons of magnesium, 3.1 million tons of cobalt and 1.7 million tons of the rare earth metal cerium used in alloys. In addition, deposits of rare earth metals were discovered on the shelf: neodymium, yttrium and dysprosium.