US Critical Materials Announces the Results of Study by Idaho National Laboratory Showing Definitive High Grade, Economic Gallium at Sheep Creek, Montana Deposit
Idaho National Laboratory is currently exploring ways to separate and process the Sheep Creek gallium and other Critical Minerals.
Salt Lake City, Utah–(Newsfile Corp. – December 4, 2024) – US Critical Materials is pleased to announce that Phase One of the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been completed. This phase involved studying, testing, and confirming the gallium and other critical minerals content at US Critical Materials Sheep Creek Deposit.
Simultaneously, INL had a team of scientists, engineers, lab technicians, and critical mineral experts begin to explore ways to create a separation and process system for the Sheep Creek ore. The next phase is being structured to cover the next 2 years of continued development of multiple separation and processing technologies.
Idaho National Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratory engaged in world leading critical materials research and development. INL excels in technology development in the Advanced Separation Science & Engineering technology space and is known throughout the DOE system as the Separation Sciences R&D Testbed.
US Critical Materials can confirm that INL measured grades of gallium from 180 parts per million (ppm) to 385 ppm and up to 18% (tree) total rare earth elements. “We are now able to confirm the presence of high-grade gallium at Sheep Creek. We look forward to continued work which will further develop a process to separate the gallium and other elements in an efficient and sustainable manner,” stated Dr. Robert Fox, Critical Materials Business Lead for INL Energy, Environment, Science & Technology Directorate.
“The gallium and rare earth grades, calculated and verified by Idaho National Laboratory, are higher than any that we are aware of in the United States,” stated Jim Hedrick, US Critical Materials President, and former 31-year rare earth commodity specialist for the USGS and US Bureau of Mines
According to the 2024 USGS gallium Mineral Commodity Summary, the average gallium content worldwide is 19 ppm, and potential U. S. gallium deposits consist mainly of subeconomic resources. No gallium is currently produced in the United States.
Gallium is consistently listed as one of the top supply risks related to US National Security, as the U.S. is 100% dependent on imported gallium, primarily from China. In July 2023 the Chinese government embargoed the export of gallium, which is critical for national defense and many other vital applications. Gallium is used for semiconductors, 5G technology, smartphones, satellite systems, critical photonics technologies, and especially current and next generation defense systems.
The US currently has no separation and processing technology, with China dominating the world’s critical minerals processing.
The Scope of Work of the CRADA between US Critical Materials and INL includes identification of materials handling, beneficiation, and separations technologies for carbonatite ore handling, preparation, and extraction of targeted, value-added metals. This will be done in a sustainable, efficient manner with a minimal carbon footprint.
“The U.S. has very little commercial rare earth processing capabilities,” said Hedrick. “This research agreement, and the tech that will be developed, will help advance U.S. rare earth processing proficiency. Not only is our gallium high grade, but we are also confident that working together with Idaho National Laboratory, we will be able to create a proprietary separation process that will be environmentally respectful,” said Hedrick.”
US Critical Materials Corp. is a private rare earths exploration and development company based in Salt Lake City, UT with holdings in Montana and Idaho. Mineral deposits held by US Critical Materials in Montana and Idaho are unique due to high grades of rare earths, low levels of thorium, large numbers of surface carbonatites, and contain some of the highest grades of rare earth minerals in the United States (U.S.) including at least thirteen of the currently listed “critical” minerals (e.g., gallium).
US Critical Materials Corp. is a private rare earths exploration, development and process technology company based in Salt Lake City, UT with holdings in Montana and Idaho. Mineral deposits are held by USCM in Montana and Idaho are unique due to high grades of rare earths, low levels of thorium, large numbers of surface carbonatites, and contains some of the highest grades of rare earth minerals in the United States including at least thirteen of the currently listed “critical” minerals.
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is a US DOE National Laboratory engaged in world-leading critical materials research and development. INL excels in technology development in the Advanced Separation Science & Engineering technology space and is known throughout the DOE system as the Separation Sciences Testbed. INL has been a core member of the DOE-AMMTO Critical Materials Institute (CMI) for the past decade and will continue to be a core CMI partner leading in Advanced Separations Science & Engineering.
CONTACT: rachelwinn@uscriticalmaterials.com
US CRITICAL MATERIALS CORPORATION
4190 S HIGHLAND DR SUITE #230
SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84124
Office: 801-322-3401
Cell: 801-680-7448
Electrochemical Extraction and Purification of Gallium and the full spectrum of rare earth critical minerals from Carbonatite Ore Leachate.
The US Critical Materials/ INL project targets extraction of >90% Ga and the full spectrum of rare earth critical minerals from carbonatite ore leachate through use of a novel Electrochemical Membrane Reactor (EMR).
The proposed recovery methodology overcomes technical barriers associated with state-of- the-art critical mineral extraction technologies including fractional precipitation and carbonation methods; commercial electrolysis methods (i.e., mercury usage); solvent extraction; and ion-exchange. The proposed EMR will use only electricity, water, and N2 gas without need for other chemical reagents to recover REE’s from the ore leachate. US Critical Materials will file national and international patents on these technologies.
The electrochemical method here is targeted at Ga, however the method is adaptable and useful for recovery of many value-add metals. Although Sheep Creek carbonatites are the target feedstock for this study, the EMR can be used on multiple critical mineral and material sources that have undergone chemical dissolution to form a metal-rich liquor.
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Description
The project will develop an electrochemical membrane reactor (EMR) to extract and concentrate Ga from the leachate of carbonatite and refine and reduce the concentrated Na[AlGa(OH)4] to pure Ga metal by using electrolysis in non-aqueous electrolytes.
Novelty
The proposed EMR consumes only electricity, water and nitrogen to remove impurities and separate Ga. Reagent usage and waste generation are dramatically reduced. To refine the recovered Ga, non- aqueous electrolytes, including organic electrolyte or low temperature molten salt NaOH/KOH mixture will be employed to eliminate the H2 evolution reaction.
Relevance and Impact
The project is dedicated to secure Ga through electrochemical extracting from Montana carbonatite. The electrochemical separation and purification and the electrolysis for refining will use an environmentally benign electrode and electrolyte and will consume no reagents other than water and N2. This robust method will reduce chemical cost, mitigate waste emissions significantly. State-of-the-art technologies need to utilize notable amount of chemicals or unstable resins to separate Ga; those processes are costly. Current electrolysis methods use Hg to suppress the H2 evolution reaction in aqueous electrolyte. Hg is prohibited for industrial scale usage.
Industry Engagement
US Critical Materials and INL will work closely together to develop this technology. U.S. Critical Materials will supply the carbonatite ore with known composition and phases. The company will test and scale up the technology on site once INL develops and de-risks it at the lab scale.
Industry Engagement
All the metallic elements inside carbonatite ore have different electroplating potentials, and their metal hydroxides have different solubilities. Those differences enable the EMR to separate and purify Ga from the carbonatite leachate. The project targets investigation of the influence of the electrode material and structure, current density, atmosphere, pH, reactor configuration etc. on the reactions including electroplating, electrochemical precipitation and electrochemical dissolution of precipitates. Through a series of electroplating, precipitation, dissolution and re-precipitation reactions using the EMR >90 % of Ga will be extracted and purified as Na[AlGa(OH)4], which will be refined and reduced to Ga metal with 99.9% purity in a non-aqueous electrolyte.
Community Benefits
INL is dedicated to becoming a diverse workplace. INL is ranked 14th nationally for best workplacesfor women. The electrochemistry team at INL is a diverse team with researchers from five different ethnicities and has hosted CMI supported summer interns every year since 2013 coming from diverse backgrounds. Some of the internships have led to employment in critical materials-related jobs.
Seven postdoctoral fellows have been converted to staff who actively support CMI work at INL. The electrochemistry team has hosted a CMIsupported graduate studentfrom Ghana for his Ph.D. and will continue to intern undergraduate and graduate students from minorities and underrepresented communities.
- PI: Rachel Winn, US Critical Materials Corp.
- CoPI’s: Qiang Wang, Robert V. Fox
- Institutions: US Critical Materials (lead), Idaho National Laboratory
- Funding level by Institution: $ 1.2 M total funding (INL); The industry partner has requested no federal funds.
- Industry Members: US Critical Materials Corp.