Traction Magazine.

Traction Magazine Cover - Issue 12 - Urban Mining

Issue 12 - Fall 2025

Urban Mining

At the edge of Boone, in a nondescript industrial building, a high-tech revolution is unfolding. Inside Critical Materials Recycling, Inc. (CMR), a small but growing team is pulling precious rare earth elements—crucial for everything from wind turbines to fighter jets—from an unlikely source: old hard drives.