User:Belangier/sandbox

Peer Review (08-03-2018) (15-03-2018)
Reply to peer review in my own talk page

Peer reviewed in Talk page:

Bituminite User:Marcusmembrere/sandbox

Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC)User:Joedf/sandbox/draft bushveld

Article Draft (01-03-2018)
*** See talk page for other comments

Environmental considerations
''Mining, refining, and recycling of rare earths have serious environmental consequences if not properly managed. A potential hazard could be low-level radioactive tailings resulting from the occurrence of thorium and uranium in rare-earth element ores. Improper handling of these substances can result in extensive environmental damage. In May 2010, China announced a major, five-month crackdown on illegal mining in order to protect the environment and its resources. This campaign is expected to be concentrated in the South, where mines – commonly small, rural, and illegal operations – are particularly prone to releasing toxic wastes into the general water supply. However, even the major operation in Baotou, in Inner Mongolia, where much of the world's rare-earth supply is refined, has caused major environmental damage. ''

''Residents blamed a rare-earth refinery at Bukit Merah for birth defects and eight leukemia cases within five years in a community of 11,000 — after many years with no leukemia cases. Seven of the leukemia victims died. Osamu Shimizu, a director of Asian Rare Earth, said "the company might have sold a few bags of calcium phosphate fertilizer on a trial basis as it sought to market byproducts; calcium phosphate is not radioactive or dangerous" in reply to a former resident of Bukit Merah who said that "The cows that ate the grass [grown with the fertilizer] all died." Malaysia's Supreme Court ruled on 23 December 1993 that there was no evidence that the local chemical joint venture Asian Rare Earth was contaminating the local environment. ''

''The Bukit Merah mine in Malaysia has been the focus of a US$100 million cleanup that is proceeding in 2011. After having accomplished the hilltop entombment of 11,000 truckloads of radioactively contaminated material, the project is expected to entail in summer, 2011, the removal of "more than 80,000 steel barrels of radioactive waste to the hilltop repository." ''

''In May 2011, after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, widespread protests took place in Kuantan over the Lynas refinery and radioactive waste from it. The ore to be processed has very low levels of thorium, and Lynas founder and chief executive Nicholas Curtis said "There is absolutely no risk to public health." T. Jayabalan, a doctor who says he has been monitoring and treating patients affected by the Mitsubishi plant, "is wary of Lynas's assurances. The argument that low levels of thorium in the ore make it safer doesn't make sense, he says, because radiation exposure is cumulative." Construction of the facility has been halted until an independent United Nations IAEA panel investigation is completed, which is expected by the end of June 2011. New restrictions were announced by the Malaysian government in late June. ''

''IAEA panel investigation is completed and no construction has been halted. Lynas is on budget and on schedule to start producing 2011. The IAEA report has concluded in a report issued on Thursday June 2011 said it did not find any instance of "any non-compliance with international radiation safety standards" in the project. ''

''If the proper safety standards are followed, REE mining is relatively low impact. Molycorp (before going bankrupt) often exceeded environmental regulations to improve public image. ''

Health risks
''REEs are a large group with many different properties and levels in the environment, because of this, and limited research it has been difficult to determine safe levels of exposure for humans. A number of studies have focused on risk assessment based on routes of exposure and divergence from back ground levels related to nearby agriculture,mining, and industry. It has been demonstrated that numerous REEs have toxic properties and are present in the environment or in work places. Exposure to these can lead to a wide range of negative health outcomes such as cancer, respiratory issues, dental loss including death. However these elements are numerous and present in many different forms and at different levels of toxicity, as such it has been difficult to give blanket warnings on cancer risk and toxicity as some of these are harmless while others pose a risk. ''

''What toxicity is shown appears to be at very high levels of exposure through ingestion of contaminated food and water, through inhalation of dust/smoke particles either as an occupational hazard or due to proximity to contaminated sites such as mines and cities. Therefore, the main issues that these residents would face is bioaccumulation of REEs and the impact on their respiratory system but overall, there can be other possible short term and long term health effects. It was found that people living near mines in China had many times the levels of REEs in their blood, urine, bone and hair compared to controls far from mining sites. This higher level was related to the high levels of REEs present in the vegetables they cultivated, the soil, and the water from the wells indicating that the high levels were caused by the nearby mine. While REE levels varied between men and women the group most at risk were children because REEs can impacted the neurological development of children. Hence, it can impact their IQ and can cause memory loss.''

Rare-earths in the environment
REEs are naturally found in very low concentration in the environment. Near mining and industrial sites the concentrations can rise to many time above normal background levels. Once in the environment, REEs can leech into the soil where their transport is determined by numerous factors such as erosion, weathering, pH, precipitation, ground water, etc. Acting much like metals they can speciate depending on the soil condition being either motile or adsorbed to soil particles depending on conditions. Depending on their bioavailability, REEs can be absorbed into plants and latter consumed by humans and animals. Including the mining of REEs and REE-enriched fertilizers, the production of phosphorus fertilizers also contribute to REE contamination due to their production and deposition around the phosphorus fertilizer production plants. Furthermore, strong acids are used during the extraction process of REEs, which can then leach out in to the environment and be transported through water bodies and result in the acidification of aquatic environments. Another additive of REE mining that contributes to REE environmental contamination is cerium oxide (nCeO 2 ) which is produced during the combustion of diesel and is released as an exhaust particulate matter and contributes heavily to soil and water contamination. (more citation needed to elaborate and make sure info is accurate)

Rare-earths in agriculture
REEs have been used in agriculture to increase plant growth, productivity, and stress resistance seemingly without negative effects for human and animal consumption. REEs are used in agriculture through REE-enriched fertilizers which is a widely used practice in China. In addition, REEs are feed additives for livestock which has resulted in increased production such as larger animals and a higher production of eggs and dairy products. However, this practice has resulted in REE bio-accumulation within livestock and has impacted vegetation and algae growth in these agricultural areas. Additionally while no ill effects have been observed at current low concentrations the effects over the long term and with accumulation over time are unknown prompting some calls for more research into their possible effects.

Rare-earths and animals
Experiments exposing rats to various cerium compounds have found accumulation primarily in the lungs and liver. This resulted in various negative health outcomes associated with those organs. REEs have been added to feed in livestock to increase their body mass and increase milk production. They are most-commonly used to increase the body mass of pigs and it was discovered that REEs increase the digestibility and nutrient use of pigs digestive system. Studies point to a dose response when considering toxicity versus positive effects. While small doses in the environment and properly administered seem to have no ill effects. Larger doses have been shown to have negative effects specifically in the organs where they accumulate. The process mining of REEs in China has resulted in soil and water contamination in certain areas, which has then transported through these systems and in these aquatic bodies, it could potentially bio-accumulate within aquatic biota. Furthermore, in some cases animals that live in the REE contaminated areas areas have been diagnosed with organ or system problems. Furthermore, REEs have been used in freshwater fish farming by allowing the fish to consume the REE because it protects the fish from possible diseases. One main reason why they have been avidly used in animal livestock feeding is because they have had better results than inorganic livestock feed enhancers.

Rare-earths and plants
- describe some of the mechanism by which plants are affected. Seems that REEs increase growth rates and productivity.

The mining of REEs have caused the contamination of surrounding soil and water of these production areas, which has impacted vegetation in these area by decreasing chlorophyll production which affects photosynthesis and inhibits the growth of the plants. However, the impact of REE contamination on vegetation is dependent on the plants present in the contaminated environments because there are some plants that do retain and absorb REEs and there are some that don't. Also, the ability for the vegetation to intake the REE in dependent on the type of REE present in the soil, hence there are a multitude of factors that influence this process. Agricultural plants are the main type of vegetation affected by REE contamination in the environment. Also, the main two plants that have a higher chance of absorbing and storing REEs are apples and beets. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the REE that can leach out in to aquatic environments can be absorbed by aquatic vegetation, which can then bio-accumulate and potentially enter the human food-chain if livestock or humans choose to eat the vegetation. An example of this situation was the case of the water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in China, where the water was contaminated due to a REE-enriched fertilizer being used in a agricultural area of close proximity. This lead to the nearby aquatic environment becoming contaminated with Cerium and resulted in the water hyacinth becoming three times more concentrated in Cerium than it's surrounding water.

Pollution mitigation
- sources of pollution: dust and particulates, soil, ground water, rain, radioactivity(already mentionned in existing article), accumulations, high concentrations.

- Pollution in US versus pollution in China (careful for balance, bias) REE mining in the US is subject to regulations where as in China there have been numerous studies that show that areas surrounding mines/industrial sites are heavily contaminated with REEs.

Pollution of REEs are mainly caused during the mining process because during the extraction of the ores from rocks, a significant amount of water usage and wastewater production. Also, there acidic substances are used during the extraction process too which can leach in to the soil and surrounding environment. In addition, due to the low abundance and varying spatial distribution of REEs, the mining process uses a significant amount of energy, which will have a negative impact on the environment. Recently published literature suggests that along with already established pollution mitigation a more circular supply chain wound help mitigate some of the pollution that occurs at the extraction point. This means recycling and reusing REEs that are already in use or reaching the end of their life cycle.

Rare earth element mining
- The mining process of REEs involves multiple steps; there is the extraction process of the ore from the mineral deposit, followed by the ore processing step which involves separation of the element which can be conducted through cracking or leaching. The next step is the refining process which is the separation of the elements and then the forming process which makes the minerals into alloys and the final manufacturing step which is when the alloys are made in to commercial products that can be sold.

Applications of rare earth elements
In 2013, it was stated that the demand for REEs would increase due to the dependence of the EU on these elements, the fact that rare earth elements cannot be substituted by other elements and that REEs have a low recycling rate. Furthermore, due to the increased demand and low supply, future prices are expected to increase and there is a chance that countries other than China will open REE mines. REEs are increasing in demand due to the fact that they are essential for the production of new technology. These new products that need REEs to be produced are high technology equipment such as smart phones, digital cameras, computer parts, etc. In addition, these elements are becoming more avidly used in the production of technology in the renewable energy technology industry and military technology industry. Also, it is used in glass production and metallurgy.

Article selection (15-02-2018)
Partnered with: User:Abineaga.m

Article selected: Rare-earth element

Since rare-earth elements (REEs) are of growing importance to our modern economy it seems important to have a properly sourced and extensive resource to inform the public on every aspect of this resource. As it stands the page is incomplete and has a number of gaps as well as poorly supported information. We will seek to add to and refine the page to make it more representative of the body of knowledge surrounding REEs.

Modification Proposal
We propose to expand on, and introduce a series of sub-headings that will focus on the environmental impact specific to rare-earth mining and associated processed.

Proposed sub-headers to be modified and created:

- Environmental considerations

- Rare earth elements in agriculture

- Effect on fauna and flora

- Rare earth elements in the environment (accumulation, clean up, persistence)

- Health risks

- Pollution mitigation

The article that we chose, does not have a significant amount of information on environmental impacts or risks. Currently, there is a section on environmental consideration, however it inly includes information on events that have resulted in rare earth elements contaminating the environments. Hence, the additional information that we will include will have an increased focus on how the mining of these rare earth minerals is contributing to the release of toxins in to our environment such as greenhouse gases. Furthermore, the mining of these elements is to support the rapidly growing renewable energy industry which is another topic that will be touched upon.

In the health risks section of the article there is no mention of rare earth elements being widely used in fertilizers. Hence, there can be a potential negative impact on our health and this information will be added to the health risks section.

Additionally....

A number of statements in the document are poorly supported by dubious sources or wholly unsupported. We propose to find academic sources for these statements and refine the page.

Citations

Original text to be modified
See section "6.5 Environmental considerations" from the Rare-earth element page for text to be added to/modified. Information on different types of hazards and pathways on health and the environment are lacking. I am adding to/adding a section called "Health risk to humans" where I can begin to outline some of the risk of REEs to human health. This has the potential to be an enormous section so I will remain vague. The sources used are from peer reviewed journals.

Health risk to humans
A number of studies have sought to assess and determine the risk to human health through various routes of exposure. REEs are a large group with many different properties and levels in the environment, because of this, and limited research it has been difficult to determine safe levels of exposure for humans. A number of studies have focused on risk assessment based on routes of exposure and divergence from back ground levels related to nearby agriculture,mining, and industry. It has been demonstrated that numerous REEs have toxic properties are are present in the environment or in work places. Exposure to these can lead to a wide range of negative health outcomes including death. However these elements are numerous and present in many different forms and at different levels of toxicity, as such it has been difficult to give blanket warnings on cancer risk and toxicity as some of these are harmless while others pose a risk.

What toxicity is shown appears to be at very high levels of exposure through ingestion of contaminated food and water, through inhalation of dust/smoke particles either as an occupational hazard or due to proximity to contaminated sites such as mines and cities. It was found that people living near mines in China had many times the levels of REEs in their blood, urine, and hair compared to controls far from mining sites. This higher level was related to the high levels in the vegetables they cultivated, the soil, and the water from the wells indicating that the high levels were caused by the nearby mine. While REE levels varied between men and women the group most at risk were children.

Article Evaluation
Two articles were selected since the first felt too short and better, more in-depth criticism could be made from a larger, more complete article. Both of these are adequate in conveying the basics of the subject matter but both have different flaws and ways on which they can be expanded. The first is very short and lacks depth of knowledge and the second while extensive is often poorly cited and full of inadequate and dubious references that would best be replaced by scientific sources.

Assignment questions were grouped together using my discretion and answered if they seemed relevant to the article and the flaws and criticisms levelled.

Article 1
Article being evaluated Bedrock

Main criticisms
This article is listed as a stub and yet the term bedrock is very important and crucial to understanding a number of geological processes. It is widely used and Wikipedia is poorer because of the poor definition and small article dedicated to it. A number of subheadings could be added to it or at the very least links to other articles that expand on the properties of bedrock.

For example: bedrock can affect the chemistry of the overlying soil, bedrock can be composed of either igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary rock, forces that cover or uncover bedrock, forces that can affect the properties of bedrock (weathering, heat, etc), origin/etymology of the term "bedrock", time for bedrock formation, where it appears, etc.

Assignment questions
"Soil scientists use the capital letters O, A, B, C, and E to identify the master soil horizons, and lowercase letters for distinctions of these horizons. Most soils have three major horizons: the surface horizon (A), the subsoil (B), and the substratum (C). Some soils have an organic horizon (O) on the surface, but such a horizon can also be buried. The master horizon, E, is used for subsurface horizons that have a significant loss of minerals (eluviation). Hard bedrock, which is not soil, uses the letter R."
 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?

the extract above, while interesting and related to geology is unrelated to bedrock and would be better placed in an article on regolith, soil, USGS, etc. Since this article focused on bedrock the only value this ads to the article is to mention that bedrock uses the letter code R in this classification system. The article is both neutral and successfully represents at least two of the major fields that use bedrock in it's scientific meaning (engineering and geology). The links are functional. Some of the facts are not clearly cited. Perhaps they have been grouped into one reference for multiple facts. With out access to the references given I cannot tell if the facts are proper;;y cited. However some of these facts are in what some would call the realm of public knowledge and require no reference beyond base knowledge of geology or a dictionary. It is a WikiProject Geology
 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
 * Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?

It was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

has been rated a STUB and of MID importance
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Article 2
Article being evaluated Rare-earth element (REE)

Main criticisms
The biggest criticism I can level towards this page is that many of the facts presented are not cited. This is against wikipedia guide lines however some of these cases could be easily rectified with a short literature search as many of these are factual. This article is generally well researched and supported and does a good job of presenting the basic necessary information on REEs as an encyclopedia should. However this article does get lost in the weeds of geopolitics specifically about China and their monoploy on the resource. Many of the facts presented are little more than conjecture, speculation and are not well supported, often citing news articles or are unreferenced. While it is true that China plays a disproportionately big role in the REE industry too much of the article is dedicated to geopolitics surrounding this resource.

There are also a number of gaps in the information presented. Under environmental considerations there is room to expand on the potential and concrete effects of pollution on the environment and human health as these are big concerns in irresponsible extraction. Secondly while some of the uses are described for each element very little mention is made of their importance and why especially in the new renewable energy sector (solar panels, wind turbines, etc). Another gap that could use more development is in the origin of these element however since these are so numerous and varied this may be better suited to individual elements.

More and better maps and pictures would help make this page better as well.

Assignment questions
The very last section on Geopolitics was distracting mainly because many of the points presented are not well supported and do not add much to knowledge of REEs. While it is important iformation it should not have taken up so much space. To answer the two above, the article is generally well balanced and neutral but does tend to skew towards a China focus at the end. This is forgivable considering that China is such a big player but much attention is given especially to the geopolitical aspect.
 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?

Some of the technical aspects and uses could have been expanded upon although some of this may be covered in more targeted pages.

The biggest bias I can find is the China bias, specifically the anti-China bias. This is especially noticeable in the sources cited, many of which are journal articles or blogs on China's dominance of the market.
 * Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?

While many of not all of the links work many, many are inappropriate for this sort of wiki article. Too many and business or opinion pieces cited as fact to support motivated positions.
 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?

It should also be noted that these news articles are also used to support scientific facts that should reference scientific articles see main criticisms Many discussions on some facts and generally good discussions on the subject. Many ideas for expanding or improving. Few mentions of dubious sources. There is also mention of merging with rareearth minerals which is essentially the same thing but very poorly compiled on wikipedia, the page is more or less useless. Part of the following projects:
 * Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
 * Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?

Master Reference List[edit]
While this specific topic has not been covered in class it is interesting to note that this is a popular article that is a work in progress. As such many of the inconsistencies noted in class are present. This article has a lot of potential for editing especially in the citations department.
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?