Method for refining one or more critical minerals

A method for substantially continuous refinement of one or more critical minerals using a dissociating reactor, the method comprising:

• receiving, at the dissociating reactor, one or more input materials, wherein the input materials comprise at least one salt including one or more critical mineral components;
• refining, using the dissociating reactor, the at least one salt into at least one refined critical mineral, wherein refining the at least one salt into the at least one refined critical mineral is driven at least in part by plasma energy generated by the dissociating reactor, and wherein the refining comprises capturing at least some of the at least one refined critical mineral using at least one getter material present in the dissociating reactor during refinement of the at least one refined critical mineral;
• shutting down the dissociating reactor for a scheduled maintenance operation unrelated to the getter material;
• replacing or exchanging the at least one getter material while the scheduled maintenance operation is performed on the dissociating reactor;
• and
• resuming normal operation of the dissociating reactor.

A method for refining one or more critical minerals, using a dissociating reactor, the method comprising:

• receiving, at the dissociating reactor, one or more input materials, wherein the one or more input materials comprise at least one salt including one or more critical mineral components;
• dissociating, using the dissociating reactor, the at least one salt into a plurality of dissociated species, wherein dissociating the input materials into the plurality of dissociated species is driven at least in part by pulsed microwave energy generated by the dissociating reactor, and wherein the dissociated species comprise at least one refined critical mineral;
• and
• collecting the at least one refined critical mineral.