Critical Minerals: Status, Challenges, and Policy Options for Recovery from Nontraditional Sources
Critical Minerals: Status, Challenges, and Policy Options for Recovery from Nontraditional Sources, Report no GAO-24-106395, Jul 2024
Critical minerals like lithium and cobalt feed technologies that keep the U.S. economy running. But other countries control much of the supply. One way to increase the U.S. supply of critical minerals is to recover them from nontraditional sources. For example, companies can extract minerals from piles of waste rock left at old mines. But using these sources poses challenges, such as high costs and concerns about being held liable for environmental damage by the original miners. In this Technology Assessment, we present options—such as financial incentives and liability protections—that policymakers could consider to address challenges.
Publication type:
project report
Publication language:
English
Publication date:
2024-07
Publication URL:
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106395.pdf
Institute:
Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics team of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) (STAA)
Country:
United States of America
Project:
Critical Minerals: Status, Challenges, and Policy Options for Recovery from Nontraditional Sources (STAA)

 Back