A 42-month EU funded project driven by 19
partners from 9 EU countries, 1 non-EU country and 2 international partners,
aiming to develop and demonstrate an innovative pilot system for the clean and
sustainable production of non-energy, non-agricultural raw materials from Mine
Waste (MW) resources has been launched.
Funded by the EU, RAWMINA project officially
started in May 2021. The project addresses major challenges for the
international mining industry, and will deliver significant impact across the
European Economy, Environment and Social Wellbeing.
Funded by the Horizon 2020 program, under the
Grant Agreement nº958252, RAWMINA benefits from an overall budget of about 10.8M euro with an allocated European funding of about 9M euro to be
expend in 42 months. European competitiveness is strongly supported with
a 26.4% and 30.3% of total budget for innovative SMEs and large industries, respectively.
The consortium covers 9 countries (European: Czech Republic, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain; International; Chile, UK) and includes 5
Research and Technology Organisations (RTO), 3 universities, 4 large
enterprises and 7 Small and Medium Enterprise (SME). Coordinated by LEITAT,
and involving a prominent industrial partner from Chile, where the
world`s largest copper ore deposits exist, the consortium will also leverage
the knowledge and support of the Advisory Board members, including expertise
from the mining sector in South Africa, Portugal and Turkey.
RAWMINA in Brief, the European Challenge
Securing access to a stable supply of Raw
Materials
Critical Raw materials (CRMs) are crucial to
Europe`s economy. They form a strong industrial base, producing a broad range
of goods and applications used in everyday life and modern technologies. CRMs
are needed for significant economic and strategical sectors, as for
example manufacturing batteries, construction tools, sensors and electronic
devices, medical devices, metals, automotive, defence or renewable energy
sectors. However, unreliable supply and difficult substitution to CRMs
is a growing concern within the EU and across the globe. Currently, the EU
relies on the rest of the world for many CRMs such as Antimony (Sb, 100%
imported), Cobalt (Co, 32% imported), Germanium (Ge, 64% imported) and Tungsten
(W, 44% imported). European reserves and current recycling rates are low (2%
for Ge as an example), and recycling rates are substantially insufficient to meet
demand.
How RAWMINA will solve it
RAWMINA aims to develop and to demonstrate
the RAWMINA pilot system: an industrially scalable and flexible innovative
pilot in continuous operation for MW valorisation, achieving 95% recovery rate
and 95% selectivity for CRMs (Co, Sb, Ge, W), and 80-90% recovery rate
and 95% selectivity for Gold (Au), Silver (Ag) and Iron (Fe) based high-value
products, whilst reutilising 90% of water. The RAWMINA pilot system will
treat up to 100-150 kg MW/day on an industrial demonstration (TRL7, 12 months
operation) and includes an efficient, circular and robust process control
by an end-to-end Intelligent Management System.
To achieve these aims, RAWMINA activities
include MW conditioning and characterization, optimization and upscaling of
innovative technologies, such as continuous bioleaching, iron removal with
magnetic separation & by-products recovery, selective recovery of Co, Sb,
Ge and W through a combination of Nanofibrous Composite Materials,
Thermo-Desorption Process and Electro Winning followed by other metals recovery
by Electro Coagulation, process simulation, integration, and pilot design,
System engineering & Demonstration. The sustainability and social impact of
these technologies will be checked and finally the exploitability of the
project will be analysed with a Circular Business Plan. The project will create
a unique community, named CRM Recovery Helix to maximise clustering and
dissemination to all the relevant stakeholders (researchers, industries,
investors, municipalities, policy makers, NGOs, Society).
An interdisciplinary, vibrant, industry led consortium,
formed by 19 partners, with recognized expertise, experience, skills,
resources, infrastructure and position in the fields of mining industry,
circular economy, renewable energy, material sciences, and business
development, is prepared to achieve these goals. Finally, RAWMINA will
contribute to reduce production costs and environmental impacts, contributing
to the objectives of the European Innovation Partnership on CRMs.
This project has received funding from the European Union`s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 958252. This publication reflects only the author`s views and the European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
