Lighting Resources has begun Shipping Phosphorus Powder to Rare Earth Recovery Sciences, LLC to Recover rare Earth Metals.

Lighting Resources has begun Shipping Phosphorus Powder to Rare Earth Recovery Sciences, LLC to Recover rare Earth Metals.

Lighting Resources shipped the first truckloads of phosphorus powder to Rare Earth Recovery Sciences, LLC (RERS) to recover rare earth metals. RERS is owned by the Gillespie Group and is one of the only companies in the United States capable of extracting extremely valuable rare earth metals from phosphorus powder from lamps.

Rare earth metals are elements mined from the ground and as their name suggests, they are very rare. A substantial amount of very expensive mining is required to extract significant quantities.  Rare earth metals have become extremely valuable because all modern electronics require rare earth metals.  This includes, cell phones, computers, military aircraft, guided missiles etc.  Needless to say, it is critical for the United States to ensure we have a supply of the rare earth materials.  Unfortunately, these valuable materials are mined primarily in China and the Chinese control approximately 95% of the worldwide rare earth market.

The rare earth metals contained in phosphorus powder include: Yttrium Y, Lanthanum La, Cerium Ce, and Europium EU.

According to Dan Gillespie, President of Lighting Resources and RERS, “This is where RERS comes to the rescue.  We have been meeting with congressional committees and the Department of Defense (DOD) to become one of the only U.S suppliers of these valuable materials.  We are confident we can provide a very important raw material to the DOD to ensure our military has the resources required to build sophisticated electronics required by todays’ military.  Myself, as well as all employees of Lighting Resources feel very good about being able to contribute to our countries defense capabilities.”

Correction:  On the original October 15, 2019 post, Lighting Resources was listed as the partial owner of Rare Earth Recovery Sciences, LLC (RERS). RERS is now wholly owned by the Gillespie Group. This post was updated on April 7, 2023 to reflect this change.