{"687071":{"#nid":"687071","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Kaolin tailings are Georgia\u2019s hidden gateway to critical minerals in AI era","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn the mid-1990s, a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/americanaffairsjournal.org\/2024\/08\/an-innovation-agenda-for-the-department-of-energy\/#:~:text=A%20recent%20study%20estimates%20that,the%20dominant%20source%20of%20funding.\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EDepartment of Energy-funded project\u003C\/a\u003E 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.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore this innovation, natural gas trapped in tight shale rock was considered too expensive and technically challenging to extract.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/opinion\/2025\/12\/kaolin-tailings-are-georgias-hidden-gateway-to-critical-minerals-in-ai-era\/\u0022\u003ERead Full Story on AJC.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn the mid-1990s, a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/americanaffairsjournal.org\/2024\/08\/an-innovation-agenda-for-the-department-of-energy\/#:~:text=A%20recent%20study%20estimates%20that,the%20dominant%20source%20of%20funding.\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EDepartment of Energy-funded project\u003C\/a\u003E 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. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"36413","created_gmt":"2026-01-05 20:17:19","changed_gmt":"2026-03-11 17:22:03","author":"pdevarajan3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/bit.ly\/4ltThwO","dateline":{"date":"2025-12-19T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-12-19T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678926":{"id":"678926","type":"image","title":"20251219-AJC-KaolinTailings-HL54SGYSB3SPJAHIPDBV7C3PTU.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u0022By investing in innovations now, Georgia can become a national leader in critical minerals resilience,\u0022 write Dr. Yuanzhi Tang and Dr. Scott McWhorter of Georgia Tech. (Dreamstime\/TNS)\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1767644263","gmt_created":"2026-01-05 20:17:43","changed":"1767644263","gmt_changed":"2026-01-05 20:17:43","alt":"\u0022By investing in innovations now, Georgia can become a national leader in critical minerals resilience,\u0022 write Dr. Yuanzhi Tang and Dr. Scott McWhorter of Georgia Tech. (Dreamstime\/TNS)","file":{"fid":"263023","name":"20251219-AJC-KaolinTailings-HL54SGYSB3SPJAHIPDBV7C3PTU.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/05\/20251219-AJC-KaolinTailings-HL54SGYSB3SPJAHIPDBV7C3PTU.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/05\/20251219-AJC-KaolinTailings-HL54SGYSB3SPJAHIPDBV7C3PTU.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":183297,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/01\/05\/20251219-AJC-KaolinTailings-HL54SGYSB3SPJAHIPDBV7C3PTU.jpeg?itok=KWG_7CiW"}}},"media_ids":["678926"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"367481","name":"SEI Energy"},{"id":"1280","name":"Strategic Energy Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"194607","name":"Batteries"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"194685","name":"Manufacturing"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"194611","name":"State Impact"},{"id":"194612","name":"Workforce Development"}],"keywords":[{"id":"188853","name":"go-seiinthenews"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}