In the mid-1990s, a Department of Energy-funded project helped catalyze one of the most transformative breakthroughs in American energy history: the development of a horizontal drilling bit capable of withstanding the extreme conditions of shale formations.
Before this innovation, natural gas trapped in tight shale rock was considered too expensive and technically challenging to extract.
But this federally supported innovation, in combination with horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, allowed operators to tap into vast shale reserves economically.
This turned previously uneconomic shale formations into prolific gas fields, igniting the shale gas revolution that made the U.S. the world’s top natural gas producer and reshaped global energy markets.
Georgia is sitting upon our generation’s shale
Credit: Courtesy
Credit: Courtesy
The shale revolution redefined America’s energy independence, transforming overlooked formations into economic engines through innovation.
Today, a similar moment is unfolding in Georgia. Instead of oil and gas, the opportunity lies in the kaolin and sand mine tailings.
By harnessing advanced technologies to extract critical minerals from the residues of existing mining operations, Georgia can spark a new domestic supply chain for materials essential to national security, energy independence, and technological leadership.
Like shale, kaolin tailings were long viewed as waste and not a resource. But with breakthroughs in process technologies in combination with artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, these waste streams can become rich sources of rare earth elements and other critical minerals.
This is our generation’s shale — and Georgia is sitting on top of it.
In the early 2000s, few believed shale could upend the global oil market. Yet as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing matured, the economics shifted. Capital flowed, infrastructure scaled, and the U.S. ascended to global energy leadership.
Kaolin tailings present a similar inflection point. Georgia’s kaolin belt, stretching across more than a dozen counties, has made the state the world’s leading producer of high-grade kaolin for decades, generating millions of tons of waste annually.
What few realize is that these wastes may hold the key to something far more important: critical minerals needed for advanced technologies and energy systems. For decades, these residues were simply discarded, but no longer. New technologies are proving they can extract valuable minerals from these wastes, transforming a waste management burden into a strategic asset.
Waste-to-resource facilities offer another advantage: speed. While traditional mining can take one to two decades to bring a new site online, waste-to-resource operations can be built in a few years, co-located with existing or former mining and processing sites.
The feedstock is already mined, stockpiled, and characterized. Facilities can be modular, scalable, and far less capital-intensive. Instead of waiting one to two decades, Georgia could deliver critical minerals to market within just a few years.
Conventional mining alone cannot solve critical minerals crisis
Credit: Courtesy
Credit: Courtesy
This opportunity is not only geological — it is institutional. Georgia Tech and its fellow University System of Georgia (USG) institutions — including the University of Georgia and Georgia State University — are working hand-in-hand to build an innovation ecosystem capable of supporting a resilient domestic critical mineral supply chain.
Together, these universities bring complementary strengths across engineering, Earth sciences, policy, economics, supply chain design, and community engagement, aligning their capabilities to solve one of the most urgent national and industrial challenges.
Georgia also has a secret weapon, the Technical College System of Georgia, working with USG institutions and regional employers to prepare a workforce ready to operate and scale these new industries.
Programs in processing, automation, and AI manufacturing are emerging to equip students across the state — particularly in rural regions — with hands-on skills that match local industry needs. This statewide pipeline, from world-class R&D to community-based workforce development, will ensure Georgia’s leadership in critical minerals is both technologically bold and socially aligned — positioning the state as a national and international model for innovation-driven resource and economic development.
The U.S. cannot wait for conventional mines alone to solve the critical minerals crisis. Even fast-tracked projects face multiyear timelines. Kaolin and other mineral-processing wastes offer an immediate and scalable solution. By investing in innovations now, Georgia can become a national leader in critical minerals resilience. Unlocking them from kaolin tailings is not just smart economics — it’s strategic policy.
Kaolin built Georgia’s industrial legacy. Now its tailings can power the next era of American innovation. The technologies are proven at bench scale. The resource is known. What’s needed now is investment, scaling, and vision.
As with shale, those who seize the opportunity early will define the future. Georgia can lead by transforming waste into value and placing itself at the heart of America’s critical minerals renaissance.
Dr. Yuanzhi Tang is the Georgia Power Professor at Georgia Tech, director of Center for Critical Mineral Solutions, and associate director of strategic partnership and engagement for Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems. She focuses on advancing cross-disciplinary research and development of sustainable resources for energy systems.
Dr. Scott McWhorter leads federal energy initiatives at the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute and is a former U.S. Department of Energy leader focused on advancing energy and manufacturing technologies to strengthen America’s energy future.
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