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Polluted Streams May Yield Minerals Critical for High Tech

Steve Baragona

   MORGANTOWN, WV - The rusty orange streambed is a giveaway.

   Paul Ziemkiewicz pulls off a winding country road at a stream about 45
   kilometers east of Morgantown, West Virginia. The water is about as
   acidic as vinegar, he says. It's "100% fatal" to aquatic life.

   "I doubt that even deer want to drink the water," he added. "it's
   useless."

   This pollution, known as acid mine drainage, contaminates roughly 4,000
   kilometers (2,500 miles) of West Virginia waterways. It's a legacy of
   more than a century of coal mining in the region.

   Ziemkiewicz grew up in Appalachia, outside Pittsburgh, where, he said,
   "acid mine drainage was just way of life. Streams tended to be orange."

   For the last 30 years, he has been working to clean up Appalachia's
   acidified waterways. Ziemkiewicz directs the West Virginia University
   Water Research Institute.

   Now, he's found an unexpected silver lining in these polluted streams.

   Or, perhaps more accurately, a neodymium lining.

   Something in the water

   Ziemkiewicz discovered minerals called rare earth metals are dissolved
   in the acidic water. These elements make some key modern tech work.

   Neodymium, for example, is used in powerful magnets in wind turbines
   and electric vehicles. It makes the tiny magnets in cell phone speakers
   possible.

   "If you were using a conventional iron magnet in your cell phone, your
   cell phone would be like a brick," Ziemkiewicz said. With rare earths,
   he added, "you can miniaturize things."

   They also have critical military uses, from night vision gear to
   high-performance aircraft.
   

References

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