New solutions for sustainable production of raw materials

All proposals should develop sustainable systemic solutions through industrially- and user-driven multidisciplinary consortia covering the relevant value chain of non-energy non-agricultural raw materials.

Assessment of the related environmental, social and safety risks and a plan to communicate the added value of the proposal to the local communities and society for improving public acceptance and trust should be addressed by all the proposals. Participation of civil society from the start of exploration until after-mining activities in a process of co-design, co-development and co-implementation is strongly encouraged.

Projects should include a work-package to cluster with other projects financed under this topic and – if possible – with other relevant projects in the field funded by Horizon 2020, in support of the EIP on Raw Materials.

In line with the EU's strategy for international co-operation in research and innovation (COM(2012)497) international co-operation is encouraged.

Proposals should develop solutions validated in lab or in industrially relevant environment, finishing at the level of Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 4-5.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 3 million and EUR 7 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Proposals shall address only one of the following issues:

a) Sustainable selective low impact mining (2016): Proposals should develop new sustainable selective low impact technological solutions for mining of small mineral deposits (including those with chemically complex ore-forming phases) on the land. The proposals have to clearly show integration of mining solutions with the processing and/or metallurgy steps in order to justify economic viability of the overall process. Proposals should include the participation of technology oriented SMEs, as far as possible.

b) New technologies for the enhanced recovery of by-products (2016): Proposals should evaluate the potential by-products existing in primary or secondary raw materials (usually accompanying the major constituents at low concentrations) and should develop energy-, material- and cost-efficient new mineral processing and/or metallurgical technologies and processes to increase the selectivity and the recovery rates of valuable by-products, particularly Critical Raw Materials. The importance of the targeted sources of by-products for the EU economy has to be duly demonstrated in the proposal.

c) New sensitive exploration technologies (2017): Proposals should develop new and more sensitive environmentally sound exploration technologies and solutions (such as remote sensing technologies, innovative multi-method approaches to reprocess existing or new geophysical data) able to identify targets for detailed exploration on the land with lower costs, leading to finding new deposits and to re-assessing the mineral potential for the EU. Any of the metallic, industrial and/or construction minerals could be targeted. The importance of the targeted raw materials for the EU economy has to be duly demonstrated in the proposal. Proposals should include the participation of technology oriented SMEs, as far as possible. Sea exploration is not targeted by this call.

The EU is highly dependent on raw materials that are crucial for a strong European industrial base, an essential building block of the EU's growth and competitiveness. Securing the sustainable access to raw materials, including metals, industrial minerals and construction raw materials, and particularly Critical Raw Materials (CRM), for the EU economy is of high importance. However, the EU is confronted with a number of technological challenges along the entire raw materials production value chain of primary and secondary raw materials. There is also a need for clean and sustainable raw materials production solutions to avoid environmental damage.

This specific challenge is identified in the Priority Area 'Technologies for primary and secondary raw materials’ production of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials.

Projects are expected to justify and provide evidence that they lead to:

a)

• achieving the objectives of the EIP on Raw Materials, particularly in terms of ensuring the sustainable supply of raw materials to the EU and improving supply conditions within the EU;
• pushing the EU to the forefront in the area of sustainable mining technologies and solutions through generated know-how (planned patents, publications in high impact journals[[High impact journals are defined to be the top 10% (in terms of Scimago Journal Ranking (SJR) index) of all journals within a given scientific category (www.scimagojr.com).]] and joint public-private publications etc.);
• unlocking substantial reserves of new or currently unexploited resources within the EU;
• improving the economic viability of small industrial mining operations;
• improving in the longer term the competitiveness of and creation of new jobs in mining and/or equipment manufacturing industries;
• safeguarding environmental stability and improving the health and safety performance of the operations;
• improving the awareness, acceptance and trust of society in a sustainable raw materials production in the EU;

b)

• achieving the objectives of the EIP on Raw Materials, particularly in terms of ensuring the sustainable supply of raw materials to the EU and improving supply conditions within the EU;
• pushing the EU to the forefront and improving the competitiveness and creation of new jobs in processing, refining, equipment manufacturing and downstream industries through generated know how (planned patents, publications in high impact journals and joint public-private publications etc.);
• increased process selectivity, broader range and higher recovery rates of valuable, particularly Critical Raw Materials;
• unlocking substantial reserves of new or today unexploited resources within the EU;
• increased economic performance in terms of higher material-, energy- and cost-efficiency and flexibility in minerals processing, metallurgical or recycling processes;
• improving the environmental performance of the operations, including a reduction in waste and emissions generation and a better recovery of resources from generated waste;
• improving the health and safety performance of the operations;
• improving the awareness, acceptance and trust of society in a sustainable raw materials production in the EU;

c)

• achieving the objectives of the EIP on Raw Materials, particularly in terms of ensuring the sustainable supply of raw materials to the EU and improving supply conditions within the EU;
• pushing the EU to the forefront in the area of sustainable exploration technologies and solutions through generated know how (planned patents, publications in high impact journals and joint public-private publications etc.);
• increasing the reserves of various primary raw materials within the EU;
• reducing the exploration costs for the industry through new cost-effective exploration technologies, while safe-guarding long- and short-term environmental stability;
• in longer term improving the competitiveness of and creating added value and new jobs in raw materials producing, equipment manufacturing, information and communication technologies and/or downstream industries;
• improving the awareness, acceptance and trust of society in a sustainable raw materials production in the EU.