Coal ash and lemon juice may supply enough rare earths to free America from China for Rare Earths

Coal ash is suddenly looking good.  Rare earths (95% coming from China these days) can be extracted from ash without using toxic inputs.  There's abundant coal ash which could be de-toxified with the new process.  C02 is considered a waste product too and would be consumed.

Using food-grade citric acid as the carrier and modified carbon dioxide,

"in less than a day, at 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius) and 1,100 pounds per square inch pressure (about 70 times ordinary atmospheric pressure), the method extracted 42% of rare-earth metals present in coal waste samples."