Interestingly, 2019 study showed that the process was potentially for environmental remediation of toxic heavy metals as well as REE: “Among the various microorganisms studied, also cyanobacterial strains proved to be highly capable to biosorb and accumulate dissolved (heavy) metals as well as REE.” Suggesting that the process could, in addition to pulling out REE from industrial waste spilled into the Rhine River, help bioremediation of other sites, presumably including the whole interconnected biosphere. So all countries could use it to help the planet- even toxic mine tailings flowing into China’s waterways could be tackled. Fischer, C. B., Körsten, S., Rösken, L. M., Cappel, F., Beresko, C., Ankerhold, G., Schönleber, A., Geimer, S., Ecker, D., & Wehner, S. (2019). Cyanobacterial promoted enrichment of rare earth elements europium, samarium and neodymium and intracellular europium particle formation. RSC advances, 9(56), 32581–32593. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ra06570a