Recovering Critical Minerals

Recovering Critical Minerals

From NSF’s Discovery Files Podcast by U.S. National Science Foundation

April 20, 2026 · 22 min · Episode 155

About this episode

Elizabeth Holley discusses the importance of recovering critical minerals from mining byproducts for national security and technology.

Critical minerals play an essential role in modern technologies, and a domestic supply is essential for national security. Elizabeth Holley, an NSF-supported associate professor, discusses how domestic supplies might be increased by recovering critical minerals from the byproducts of existing mining sites.

People in this episode

Guest: Elizabeth Holley

Topics covered

  • critical minerals
  • domestic supply
  • national security
  • mining
  • technology

Keywords

  • critical minerals
  • domestic supply
  • national security
  • mining byproducts
  • technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NSF, U.S. National Science Foundation

More episodes of NSF’s Discovery Files Podcast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the NSF’s Discovery Files Podcast podcast page.