BETA TC participates in the RAWMINA project for the recovery of high-value raw materials present in mining waste

CT BETA began its participation as a partner in a new H2020 project last week. This is RAWMINA, an European project coordinated by LEITAT that will work to implement new systems for the recovery of high-value raw materials present in mining waste. The RAWMINA project seeks to incorporate circular economy schemes that bring multiple benefits to the mining sector. Today, the EU depends on the rest of the world for many raw materials, such as cobalt, antimony, germanium and tungsten, materials that are crucial to the EU’s industrial base. Although many of these raw materials have a high recycling potential, entry rates for recycling are often very low due to the lack of efficient and cost-effective technologies.

To address this need, RAWMINA will work to demonstrate the full-scale effectiveness of several innovative technologies for the recovery of raw materials from mining waste (tungsten, cobalt, antimony and germanium). The project must finally allow these technologies to be integrated into a reference pilot plant that will operate under real conditions.

Several researchers in the areas of Accounting and Optimization of Sustainability and of the Ecology of Applied and Global Change of the CT BETA will have a prominent role in the triple analysis of the sustainability of technologies and the final pilot. On the one hand, the LCA and LCC (Life Cycle and Life Cycle Cost Analysis) methodologies will be used to quantify their environmental impact and economic viability. In addition, potential benefits and social impacts will also be quantified from S-LCA assessments. Finally, CT BETA will also lead the study of the ecological impact of residual liquid effluents generated at various stages of the process on freshwater ecosystems, using biofilm as a bioindicator.

The project consortium, which will have a budget of more than 9 million euros, is made up of 19 partners from Spain, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Finland, Italy, Greece, Ireland and Chile. This is the second major European project of the CT BETA in which it has the opportunity to work with the mining sector, after being the coordinators of the LIFE DEMINE project to reduce the ecological impact of abandoned mines on the ecosystem