In the news

Ian Lange, professor of economics and business and Viola Vestal Coulter Chair of Mineral Economics, noted there are alternatives to deep sea mining, including utilizing land-based copper and cobalt mines in the U.S.

Nurses at University of Colorado Hospital performed a graduation ceremony for David Boylan, a chemical engineering major, who was planning to attend commencement ceremonies at Mines before a surprise diagnosis of leukemia less than one week before.

Ian Lange, professor of economics and business and Viola Vestal Coulter Chair of Mineral Economics, questioned whether deep sea mining is the most cost-effective way to obtain critical minerals and rare earth elements.

Thomas Albrecht, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, says that rather than removing waste from the microreactor onsite, at some point the reactor will be removed and replaced with a new unit so that waste can be processed offsite.

Anna Littlefield, program manager for Geothermal and Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) for the Payne Institute, said Illinois is a hot spot for CCUS because of the proximity of numerous ethanol plants.

The National Laboratory of the Rockies signed MOUs with Mines and the University of Utah that will help strengthen America’s energy and material supply chains through critical minerals innovation, commercialization, and workforce development.

Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy, and Jahara “FRANKY” Matisek, a senior fellow at Payne, co-authored this article along with Macdonald Amoah.

Nathan Lenssen, teaching assistant professor in Applied Mathematics and Statistics and a scientist with the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, said climate change has made El Niño events of the past less informative for events today.

Senior engineering geologist Jonathan Lovekin and hydrogeologist Lesley Sebol with the Colorado Geological Survey discuss the science of rocks, landscapes, soil and groundwater—and what those things reveal about Southwest Colorado.

Paul Santi, professor of geology and geological engineering and director of the Institute for Initiatives in Latin America, said an engineer or geologist who had access to data on abandoned underground mines could have predicted the sinkholes.

Anne Marie Mozrall, PhD candidate in civil and environmental engineering, says while awareness of microplastics as a health concern has grown there are still gaps in understanding where they come from and the effects they have on the environment.

Matt Morgan, director of the Colorado Geological Survey, said the NASA airplane will be used to collect data on energy and mineral resources, and also for geologic hazards like landslides, debris flows, and rockfalls.