Chair of Mining Engineering and Mineral Economics

Extraction of Critical Minerals from old Mining Waste Facilities.

Extractive industries have generated vast amounts of Mining Waste Facilities (MWFs) - waste deposits of materials once considered unusable due to technological constraints. In the EU, 100,000 MWFs are estimated, which contain massive quantities of valuable raw materials that were not extracted at the time of initial exploitation. 

The protect SCIMIN-CRM aims to develop recovery pathways for this large, yet unused potential. For this purpose, four European MWF pilot sites are analysed in detail for their raw material contents, possible mining and extraction strategies. Reprocessing MWFs holds several advantages to conventional mining, as the rock mass is already fragmented and only requires further processing. Furthermore, MWF recovery can also play a crucial role for the environmental remediation of contaminated mine sites, often seen as ecological scars. By integrating sustainable practices, SCIMIN-CRM targets not only the production of critical raw materials, but also a contribution to more responsible mining.

https://scimin.eu

Funding programme: Horizon Europe
Total Project Budget: € 7.3 million
Our budget: € 200,000 /Total MUL: € 800,000
Our role: Work package leader, task partner
Partner: 14
Duration: 48 months
Responsible: Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont. Philipp HARTLIEB
Contributors: PhD student NN starting Jan 2027 @BBK, J. Antrekowitsch, Hanke, Jameshourani @NEM, Dunkel @Geology, 
ANEFA (ESP),Universidad de Oviedo (ESP), IGME (ESP), SGS (ESP), Chalmers University (SWE), Akkodis (FRA), 
Grängesberg Exploration (SWE),Stratagem Energy (FRAU), Silbermine Zeiring (AUT), Metso (FIN), MINERSA (ESP), 
Advanced Mineral Processing (AMP), Rudnici boksita Jajce,d.d (BIH), BirdLife Europe (GER), 
Gobierno de Asturias • Mining and Metallurgy Institute Bor • , Zabala Innovation Consulting • UNE • , 
Fundación Asturiana de la Energía , Minepro Solutions