[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]  Mith & Abe [@Mith_](/creator/twitter/Mith_) on x 1687 followers Created: 2025-07-16 14:37:01 UTC With the growing interest in rare earth elements (REE), I’ve been asked several times whether $ABAT could also mine for them. It’s common for a mine to generate more than one revenue stream. A copper mine, for example, might also produce nickel or cobalt as byproducts. However, deposits that can profitably yield REE alongside other metals are rare due to the complexity of extraction. Rare earths, like lithium, are not scarce in the Earth’s crust. The challenge is their distribution. They are typically found in low concentrations, often just a few hundred parts per million, and are almost always mixed with other metals. The main difficulty is extraction and separation. REEs are usually bound in complex minerals that require energy-intensive and chemically complex processes to isolate. This includes multiple stages of crushing, grinding, flotation, and chemical leaching using acids or solvents. Because concentrations are low and the separation process must be precise, the overall effort is costly and environmentally demanding. As a result, rare earth mines are generally dedicated operations located in areas with high REE concentrations and favorable mineralogy. A company like $ABAT, which focuses on lithium, could have trace amounts of REEs in its deposits, especially in pegmatites or clay-hosted formations. However, for those to be economically viable, concentrations would need to be much higher, and the surrounding mineralogy would have to support efficient recovery. That is unlikely; even when REEs are present, they are usually too dilute or occur in forms that are not economically recoverable. In recycling, the challenge is different. Recovering only lithium from batteries leaves much value behind. Effective recycling requires extracting a broader range of materials, including cobalt, nickel, manganese, copper, and graphite. Processing feedstock like hard drives for rare earths requires a completely different processing train—one a REE miner would have already designed or implemented, but not a lithium miner or recycler. For $ABAT, the priority remains lithium. Other elements, such as magnesium, which are considered impurities, may have some value, but that is mainly because additional processing steps are required to remove them anyway. For $ABAT, this may be less of an issue since their process extracts significantly fewer impurities. The value lost from these metals is more than offset by lower waste generation and reduced chemical use. This is not to say they couldn’t host a pilot program, but revenue-wise there is nothing there. XXX engagements  **Related Topics** [abe](/topic/abe) [copper](/topic/copper) [$abat](/topic/$abat) [mith](/topic/mith) [Post Link](https://x.com/Mith_/status/1945492876202479876)
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Mith & Abe @Mith_ on x 1687 followers
Created: 2025-07-16 14:37:01 UTC
With the growing interest in rare earth elements (REE), I’ve been asked several times whether $ABAT could also mine for them. It’s common for a mine to generate more than one revenue stream. A copper mine, for example, might also produce nickel or cobalt as byproducts. However, deposits that can profitably yield REE alongside other metals are rare due to the complexity of extraction.
Rare earths, like lithium, are not scarce in the Earth’s crust. The challenge is their distribution. They are typically found in low concentrations, often just a few hundred parts per million, and are almost always mixed with other metals. The main difficulty is extraction and separation. REEs are usually bound in complex minerals that require energy-intensive and chemically complex processes to isolate. This includes multiple stages of crushing, grinding, flotation, and chemical leaching using acids or solvents. Because concentrations are low and the separation process must be precise, the overall effort is costly and environmentally demanding.
As a result, rare earth mines are generally dedicated operations located in areas with high REE concentrations and favorable mineralogy.
A company like $ABAT, which focuses on lithium, could have trace amounts of REEs in its deposits, especially in pegmatites or clay-hosted formations. However, for those to be economically viable, concentrations would need to be much higher, and the surrounding mineralogy would have to support efficient recovery. That is unlikely; even when REEs are present, they are usually too dilute or occur in forms that are not economically recoverable.
In recycling, the challenge is different. Recovering only lithium from batteries leaves much value behind. Effective recycling requires extracting a broader range of materials, including cobalt, nickel, manganese, copper, and graphite. Processing feedstock like hard drives for rare earths requires a completely different processing train—one a REE miner would have already designed or implemented, but not a lithium miner or recycler.
For $ABAT, the priority remains lithium. Other elements, such as magnesium, which are considered impurities, may have some value, but that is mainly because additional processing steps are required to remove them anyway. For $ABAT, this may be less of an issue since their process extracts significantly fewer impurities. The value lost from these metals is more than offset by lower waste generation and reduced chemical use.
This is not to say they couldn’t host a pilot program, but revenue-wise there is nothing there.
XXX engagements
