Why China is looking to coal waste as a source of critical metals

China is turning coal waste into a source of critical metals including lithium, gallium and germanium, leveraging its advantages in extraction technology and industrial infrastructure.Coal mining and burning produce large amounts of waste, including coal gangue, the rock embedded in coal seams, and fly ash, the fine particulate ash captured after burning. Traditionally both are used only as low-value cement additives, while their stockpiling consumes land and causes environmental pollution.“The coal refuse contains a variety of metal elements and could become an important source of critical metal supply,” Dai Shifeng, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor at China-university-of-mining-and-technology-beijing" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="132746" data-entity-type="organization">China University of Mining and Technology-Beijing, said in an interview with China-energy-news" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="132747" data-entity-type="organization">China Energy News in late April.