The West Virginia Water Research Institute (WVWRI) is requesting proposals for research expected to be funded March 1, 2021 through February 28, 2022. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Department of the Interior, will sponsor the research. Faculty from all West Virginia colleges and universities are encouraged to submit proposals. Funding selected proposals is dependent upon the availability of funds. It is expected that 3-5 projects will be funded in the range of $10,000 – $20,000 each. It is expected that approximately $90,000 will be available for new projects in 2021.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded a contract with a base award of $149,980 for a conceptual design. The contract includes one option period for a Feasibility Case Study, which if exercised will be $1,567,889. West Virginia Water Research Institute’s project at WVU is focused on developing a domestic supply chain that uses the Institute’s technology to capture REEs as oxide powders that can be converted into the rare earth metals used by U.S. manufacturers.
Rare earth elements are important to today’s society because they allow electronic devices to be smaller, faster, and more energy efficient. This makes REEs critical to national security and a major concern because China mines and exports most of the world’s REE supplies. Developing a new, U.S. source of REEs from AMD has been a priority for WVWRI since 2016. Their work has been funded by the U.S. DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory.
From decades of mining in West Virginia, over 40 percent of the states rivers are too polluted to be safely used for drinking water or to support aquatic life, according to Appalachian Mountain Advocates. Mike Masterman, owner of Extreme Endeavors, is partnering with WVU’s Water Research Institute to provide a solution that would benefit the environment and the economy.
Article written by Debra McCown Thomas for Mining People Magazine.
The term “Rare Earth Elements” is somewhat of a misnomer. These elements – a group of 17 metals that are commonly used in producing electronics – aren’t actually all that rare.
It aims to turn a major pollutant of streams and ponds – acid mine drainage – into badly needed minerals for everything from smartphones and electric cars to jet fighters and satellites.
If it works, at a price that can earn companies a profit, the process would provide a major incentive for companies to clean up waters and streams, cut costs for the mining industry, and plug a strategic hole for the United States, which currently imports most of those minerals from China.
The project’s first phase began last May and ended this month with contributing journalists, nonprofit leads and community members coming together at West Virginia University’s Media Innovation Center to celebrate their work so far, which includes more than 20 multimedia pieces that cover the Ohio River’s environment, economy and culture.
The panel shared their own experiences working and living along the Ohio – the progress they’ve seen in healthy water levels and wildlife growth, how to handle new threats like the impacts of climate change, and redirecting the narrative from warning against the river’s dangers to reinvigorating the region’s tourism.
An assessment to determine any environmental deterrents that might impact the progress of completion of the site of the old Sutton Bank Building will be conducted with the help of a grant from the West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center at WVU. (WVU Photo)
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.