Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ION4RAW (Ionometallurgy of primary sources for an enhanced raw materials recovery)
Période du rapport: 2022-06-01 au 2023-11-30
The process development for the ION4RAW project is supported by the mapping and assessment of by-product potential in Europe. The achievements led to a significant increase in by-product metal availability for the EU, thus reducing EU dependency on imports and strengthening EU competitiveness while minimising the environmental impact of mineral processing operations with respect to conventional hydro- and pyro- routes. The technical feasibility of this concept is supported by TRL 2-3. From this starting point, the ION4RAW project reached TRL 5 by implementing a process prototype at Tecnalia Research & Innovation facilities and validating it using real primary samples provided by Scotgold Resources and Cumbres Exploraciones S.A.C. The impact of the ION4RAW project is supported by the intercontinental reach of the project consortium and the External Expert Advisory Board: Cobre las Cruces, Orovalle Minerals, the Minor Metals Trade Association and First Solar.
The comprehensive by-product potential identification and assessment have been performed at this stage, achieving the related objectives fully. A compilation of geoscientific data from 1400 identified European occurrences for Cu, Au, Ag, and Pb-Zn main commodities have been conducted in order to produce an assessment and inventory of target by-products distribution in existing and currently unexploited resources from Europe. The ore sampling on five operational five sites (El Porvenir and Cerro Lindo in Peru, Cononish in Scotland, and Cobre Las Cruces and El Valle-Boinas in Spain) has been achieved. Concerning the upstream activities, the produced concentrates have been distributed to partners, and the optimization of the process is also finished. On the other hand, the downstream research has also been fruitful in assessing the solid effluents and DES treatment and valorisation procedures.
For the ionometallurgical process development, an optimized ionometallurgical route based on the results obtained in the field of DES leaching and electrodeposition has been carried out. These results are considered a base for the development of the upscaled process, where the modelling, conceptual, and basic engineering of the process are already available. The outcomes of the previous technical activities were used as a base for the DEMO prototype, whose activity is finished. For this activity, the first task was working on an upscaled experimental design that will finish with the DEMO validation in a relevant environment, achieving TRL5. Finally, a quality assessment of the recovered metals was performed to analyze how the products of the ION4RAW process could be used as commercial products. Regarding the transversal activities such as the sustainability assessment, exploitation, dissemination, and communication, their progress has also been very fruitful. The partners worked with the final results from the LCA analysis, and the market analysis and the exploitation plan are already available. There is close monitoring of the legal compliances and standardization strategies with several deliverables devoted to this topic during the lifetime of the project, and a by-product potential decision support system of the stakeholders is published on the project website. Varied and dynamic content is available from the ION4RAW website, and our social media channels and attendance at workshops and conferences are promoted. In the case of dissemination activities, several publications are ongoing, and an ION4RAW community has been created on the ZENODO platform, where public datasets and recent project publications are available.
The ION4RAW process is expected to be used by mining and mineral processing companies and will lead to broader and higher by-product recovery rates. Besides, the by-product potential mapping and the production of the toolkit to be used by companies will allow the identification of new unexploited resources. Additionally, thanks to the ION4RAW technology, today, unexploited resources could be transformed into reserves to be exploited by the application of the concept proposed here (as is planned for the case-study mineral processing companies).
ION4RAW process estimates a reduction in energy consumption with respect to pyro- and hydrometallurgical processes, together with low-cost, environmentally benign, non-flammable solvents (DES) instead of the use of strong acids (mainly sulphuric acid). This would lead to a healthier and safer process than a hydrometallurgical route and the reduction of both capital and operating expenditures (CAPEX and OPEX).
The ION4RAW process is expected to promote the expansion of the activities of mineral processing companies and, therefore, to create new jobs from diverse professional categories: construction workers, geologists, process engineers, plant operators, administrative staff, etc. Around a 5-10% increase in employment due to the impact of ION4RAW is expected in the long term. Besides, the dissemination plan of the project foresees the publication of 1 patent related to the project process, publications in journals with high impact factor, the creation of PhD positions during the project execution, attendance at industrial fairs, organisation of public events involving stakeholders and society, production of a video clip, brochures, internal and external newsletters, etc.