These are after all mines, often big mines, and the minerals extracted require complex and challenging refining to separate the chemically similar constellations of rare earth elements that are always collocated in various mineral concentrations and combinations.
Another interesting item she found was that the amount of informal interaction (e.g. watercooler chats) between coworkers stayed about the same regardless of location : whether they were collocated, semi-collocated (in the same building but not close by), or distributed (working remotely).