EcoMine™ - Bioregenerative Mineral Mining from Lunar Regolith

NASA’s plans to establish a sustained Lunar presence for scientific research, Mars mission preparation, and a thriving commercial Lunar economy will require significant surface infrastructure. The use of in situ resources enables a more economical and sustainable approach to constructing this infrastructure, while providing an alternative source of rare Earth minerals for terrestrial use. Lunar regolith contains an abundance of Si and Al in anorthite, Fe and Ti in ilmenite, magnesium, and other REEs in mare regolith (La, Nd, Sc, Ce, etc.), that can be used for in-situ construction. However, traditional Earth mining processes are not economically feasible on the moon, due to high energy demands, labor needs, high mass transport costs for consumable reagents (like acids and alkalis), lower ore grade, and potential environmental and safety impacts. EcoMine™ is a bioregenerative mining facility designed for use on the Lunar surface and adaptable for asteroid, Mars, or Earth applications. It combines a closed-loop biomining process that continuously regenerates consumables (e.g., acids, nutrients, O2, water) with an autonomous, self-powered, bioprocessing facility for commercial operations. The use of biological organisms for mineral leaching is environmentally safer with lower energy demands than chemical mineral mining and it generally has improved extraction efficiency for low-grade ores like lunar regolith. EcoMine™ facility can integrate with other infrastructure (like regolith excavation) and is mobile, which minimizes the distance (and time) between excavation, processing, and disposal of regolith. We here present an overview and concept of operations of the EcoMine bioregenerative mining process, preliminary design of the facility and results of the bioleaching efforts. EcoMine™ is a major step towards a viable, sustainable lunar economy with several innovative features relative to state-of-the-art mining The EcoMine project is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. 80NSSC24CA217.