Undecided with Matt Ferrell

Have We Been Mining Wrong This Whole Time?

The $Billions We’re Burying in Plain Sight. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code UNDECIDED at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: http://incogni.com/undecided There's $67 billion in critical minerals sitting in your trash can right now. Old laptops, dead drills, that printer you keep meaning to throw out. The piles of waste outside old mines hold even more. By some estimates, between e-waste recycling and mine tailings, America already has nearly all the rare earth elements it needs, without digging a single new hole. One New Hampshire startup, Phoenix Tailings, is already turning toxic mine waste into wind turbine magnets using a furnace as hot as lava. Every few years someone promises a clean fix to the critical minerals problem, and every few years we keep buying them from China. So is remining actually the answer? Or is it just another shiny promise headed for the dustbin? Watch Why This Mars Battery Could Beat Lithium-Ion https://youtu.be/rAduhmW5ZO8?list=PLnTSM-ORSgi7uzySCXq8VXhodHB5B5OiQ Video script and citations: https://undecided.tech/the-billions-were-burying-in-plain-sight/ Get my achieve energy security with solar guide: https://undecided.link/solar-guide Follow-up podcast: Video version - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4-aWB84Bupf5hxGqrwYqLA Audio version - https://undecided.link/stilltbd-podcast Join the Undecided Discord server: https://undecided.link/discord 👋 Support Undecided on Patreon! https://undecided.link/patreon Visit my Energysage Portal (US): Research solar panels, heat pumps, and more to get quotes for free! https://undecided.link/energysage For a curated solar buying experience (Canada) EnergyPal's free personalized quotes: https://undecided.link/energypal 👉 Follow Me Mastodon https://mastodon.social/@mattferrell Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/mattferrell.bsky.social Instagram https://www.instagram.com/undecidedtech Website https://undecided.tech Some music provided by Epidemic Sound https://undecided.link/epidemic I may earn a small commission for my endorsement or recommendation to products or services linked above, but I wouldn't put them here if I didn't like them. Your purchase helps support the channel and the videos I produce. Thank you. Chapters 00:00 - Intro 02:33 - Tailings 07:22 - Waste Water 09:53 - E-Trash 12:07 - Environmental Cost vs Benefit 13:18 - Economics