Rare Earth Exchanges

Oak Ridge National Laboratory just won a 2026 R&D 100 Award for a rare earth separation process that halves the number of stages a plant needs for the same throughput. The two ORNL chemists behind it explain why that has almost nothing to do with the molecule.Subho Pramanik is an R&D Associate Staff Scientist at ORNL, a radiochemist and synthetic physical-organic chemist who designs the ligands. Marcy Lamb is a radiochemist in ORNL's Chemical Separations Group who runs the analytical side and the scale-up. Both are named on NEAREST, the Neutral Extractant Advanced Rare Earth Separation Technology. We covered why all 15 lanthanides sit within 20 picometers of one another, how two ligands with opposite selectivity beat a single acidic extractant, what a separation stage actually costs at industrial scale, and why the analytical chemistry nobody sees decides whether any of it worked.In this episode:- Why less than 20 picometers of difference across the lanthanide series makes separation the supply chain's hardest chemistry- How NEAREST cuts required separation stages by roughly 50 percent for the same throughput, and why each stage means pumps, controls, solvent inventory, footprint and capital- Why neutral ligands mean no pH control, no neutralizing base, and a recyclable aqueous phase- What the Critical Materials Innovation Hub is, and how companies can join it under an NDA- The real difference between a critical mineral and a critical material, and why germanium is only one of them- Why separation chemistry is not a degree anyone can graduate with, and the eight kinds of expert it takes insteadGuests: Subhamay "Subho" Pramanik, R&D Associate Staff Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Marcy Lamb, Radiochemist, Oak Ridge National LaboratoryRare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly.🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple PodcastsDisclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

America's entire strategic minerals stockpile is worth about $600 million. Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes ran the Department of Energy's multi-billion-dollar battery and critical-minerals grant program — and she says the real bottleneck isn't geology, it's price.Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes spent years as the DOE's Deputy Director for Batteries and Critical Materials, deciding which companies got a share of roughly $6 billion in grants and $10 billion in tax credits. She's since founded the family office Smoketree Resources and become COO of M Evo Global Acquisition Corp II (NASDAQ: MEVO), a critical-minerals SPAC, while publishing policy research as a Nonresident Fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute. In this conversation with Dustin Olsen and Daniel O'Connor, she breaks down why Chinese-controlled reference pricing makes it nearly impossible for Western critical-minerals projects to pencil out — and the market fix she's proposing to change that.In this episode:- How the DOE actually decided who got a share of $6B in critical-minerals grants and $10B in tax credits- Why China's "Molycorp playbook" can bankrupt Western competitors without China ever needing to turn a profit- Whether accounting rules could ever reward long-term supply-chain resilience over quarterly returns- Ashley's Baker Institute proposal for a bifurcated reference price — and why "buyer beware" applies to every mining investment- The unrelated Admiral Zumwalt story that turns out to be a pretty good Cold War parallelGuest: Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes, Nonresident Fellow, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University (former U.S. Deputy Director for Batteries & Critical Materials, Department of Energy)Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly.🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple PodcastsDisclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

Rhodium fetches $9,500 to $12,000 an ounce, the highest price of any element on the periodic table. Taylor Ford says his Colorado claim assays at six to seven ounces of it per ton.Taylor Ford has spent nearly fifty years in exploration. He worked in Exxon's refineries, built and ran his own refinery in South Texas, and built one of the first horizontal drills. Thirty years ago a book about a platinum producer pulled him toward the mining side, and he has been testing rock ever since. He joins Dustin Olsen and Daniel O'Connor to talk about what he has found, why he believes the United States is two decades behind on critical minerals, and why the people most likely to find the next domestic deposit are the least likely to get funded.In this episode:• Why rhodium, not gold or platinum, is the metal he is chasing• The alumina find that appeared on his last test after nine years of testing• What prospecting actually costs: labs, a 150-element spectrum, thousands of dollars before you know anything• Why he says the industry is scared — administration versus administration, with no consistent minerals policy• Where he would start today if he were new: silver, uranium, aluminumGuest: Taylor Ford, Explorationist, Ark EnergyGrades, assay results and production claims in this episode are the guest's own and have not been independently verified by Rare Earth Exchanges.Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly.🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple PodcastsDisclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

Rare Earths Americas CEO Don Swartz says there hasn't been a novel rare earth discovery in the US in about 40 years — and his company thinks it just found one, in the coastal sands of Georgia.Four months after taking Rare Earths Americas (NYSE American: REA) public in the first traditional-listing US rare earths IPO since 2010, Don Swartz joins Dustin and Daniel to walk through the Shiloh and Liberty Peak discoveries in Georgia, the Alpha ionic clay project in Brazil, and how the company is running eight drill rigs across two continents at once.In this episode:- How a decades-old uranium survey led to a possible new US rare earth district- Why heavy rare earths trade at roughly a 5x premium in Europe compared to China- Inside Rare Earths Americas' balance sheet and parallel Georgia/Brazil drill programs- Why the US graduates roughly 200 mining engineers a year versus 10,000+ in China- Don's advice for anyone considering a career in critical mineralsGuest: Don Swartz, President & CEO, Rare Earths Americas, Inc.Rare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly.🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple PodcastsInvestor Deck: https://ir.rareearthsamericas.com/news-events/presentationsDisclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.

Brian Busse has hand-dug what may be the largest single mine in 80 years of American history — and the biggest lesson from three decades underground has nothing to do with luck.Brian Busse is a 30-year veteran miner, jewelry designer, and star of the Weather Channel's reality series Prospectors. He owns the Thank You Lord Mine on Colorado's Mount Antero — one of the largest aquamarine deposits ever discovered — and runs American Gem Trackers. He joins hosts Dustin Olsen and Daniel O'Connor to talk about what three decades of hand-digging taught him about rare earth elements, gold, and gemstones, why American mining culture collapsed after World War II, and what it will take to bring natural-resource development back home.In this episode:- Why rare earth elements aren't actually rare — and what "saturation" really means for finding a mineable deposit- How the Weather Channel's Prospectors doubled the U.S. rock, mineral, and jewelry industries in four years- The beryllium test results behind Busse's Thank You Lord Mine on Mount Antero- Why America imports up to $100 million a year in aquamarine alone — and could mine 20% of it at home- What it's like to hand-dig at 12,000+ feet, raise a family on the mountain, and deal with claim jumpersGuest: Brian Busse, Miner, Jewelry Designer & Founder, American Gem TrackersRare Earth Exchanges is accelerating transparency in the rare earth and critical minerals supply chain. New episodes weekly.🌐 https://rareearthexchanges.com🎧 Also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple PodcastsDisclaimer: Educational and informational content only. Nothing here is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice.