Opportunities and Challenges in Metals Recovery from Secondary Sources - US Perspective

The mineral industry of the United States is going through a challenging time. The US as an industrial nation faces with increasing demand in raw materials to fuel various industrial sectors but, at the same time, meeting environmental constraints associated with excavating and extracting these raw materials. In addition, gradual depletion of material resources. and the necessity of handling more complex forms of resources of primary origin have led to a decline in her resource productivity, once a strategic advantage of the U.S. As a result. the United States currently relies heavily upon foreign importation of various materials such as precious and strategic metals. However, since the US is the major consumer of most of these materials, the recovery of these values from scrap would help renew her position as a resource-producing nation, and ultimately help spur its domestic economy. Furthermore. recycling would also help maintain a clean environment and reduce energy consumption. In this paper. the author attempts to discuss opportunities and challenges lied ahead of the US mineral in relation to recovering their much-needed resources from secondary sources. The need and demand in various metals in the US will be reviewed and discussed. The implication of resource recovery from secondary sources will also be discussed. Extraction methods treating secondary sources are inherently different from those for primary sources. There is a need for new technologies which are metallurgically efficient and environmentally benign in treating secondary sources. Ways to meet such a need will be examined and key factors to be considered in approaching these challenges will be discussed.