Date of Award

Fall 12-13-2024

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mining Engineering

Department

Mining Engineering

Committee Chair

Abhishek Choudhury

First Advisor

Scott Rosenthal

Second Advisor

Mary MacLaughlin

Abstract

In recent times, the demand for rare earth elements (REEs) has been fueled by industry shifts towards energy efficiency and climate neutrality, as well as the great potential for the use of REEs in all sectors of our daily lives. Currently, China accounts for over 75% of global REE production (Dal, 2024). Various REE producers are gearing up to produce significant amounts of REEs to solve the issue of global supply and break China’s monopoly. A spike in REE prices of nearly tenfold in 2011 provided the impetus for accelerating over 400 REE exploration projects around the world (Barakos, 2017). The global treasure hunt by potential REE producers was caused by China’s increasing domestic industrial consumption. This posed a risk to the supply of rare earths worldwide, due to drop in permanent export quotas, which resulted in a REE crisis (Barakos, 2017). However, the global supply has not met demands in recent years. REEs are not found in individual deposits (high-concentration deposits by themselves) in nature. They are often found as associated minerals in low concentrations that are too small to be considered profitable for economical extraction. In the past, REEs associated with the base and precious metals deposits were not valuable enough, leading to the discarding of REEs in waste and tailing piles as well as in unmined part of the deposit. As mines were abandoned post-production, the REEs which potentially occurred in them as associated minerals remained in these unmined areas. Since Montana has over 6000 abandoned mines, it would be expedient to explore these abandoned mines as well as reclaimed mine sites for REE deposits (Gestring, 2007). However, abandoned, and reclaimed mines, along with their waste and tailing piles, are challenging to access and often hazardous for people. While the aim of the larger research effort is to sample and map potential REE deposits and evaluate the economic potential of the deposits to help meet the current market needs for REEs. This specific project addresses the problem of sampling for REEs in hazardous conditions (abandoned mines, tailing piles etc.) by developing a robotic platform to perform the sampling. In this part of the project, the research team decided to purchase an existing robotic platform and modify it as necessary for the task of sampling. This meant that an off-the-shelf robotic platform with a very specific set of attributes/capabilities needed to be chosen. Some of the several capabilities include adequate payload capacity, battery life and longevity of the power pack, recharging capabilities, size and shape, ruggedness and operating temperature range, impact tolerance, communication and robustness thereof, control systems and surfaces, navigation and its reliability, direction finding (preprogrammed or dynamic), mobility over rough and hostile terrain, Water snow and ice resistance, self-recoverability and the efficacy of the camera. In order to accomplish this, a thorough examination of the robotics market was conducted. The goal was for the robot to travel into a hazardous environment either remotely or autonomously, collect samples and travel out safely with the samples. After thorough consideration, the Boston Dynamics SPOT robot with the robotic arm was chosen for the task. Appropriate hardware, including two – wheeled trailers constructed out of commercially available shelving material to carry powered radio relay stations, were developed through trial and error to aid Spot’s operations. This thesis provides details regarding the proof-of-concept tests which helped modify the SPOT’s performance to perform the task at hand. The thesis then provides the data and conclusions for five sensitivity tests that were carried out to gage the robot’s performance.

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