Why is it so hard for the US to get urban mining right?

Dec 04, 2025

The allure of “urban mining” — extracting critical minerals from what could be a massive above-ground deposit, sitting in junk drawers, scrap yards, and tailing piles — is self-evident. 

Evok Partner, Mike Biddle, discusses the logistical challenges, explaining that there are inherent disadvantages of urban mining compared to primary mining, including distributed resources, creating reverse supply changes, and also undoing what humans have engineered - which is often harder than undoing what nature created.

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