NEWS

Euromines has launched the first episode of its vodcast series on the topic of Europe’s raw materials conundrum. Episode 1 features SIM² KU Leuven’s Peter Tom Jones. A 40-minute conversation about responsible mining, refining and recycling.

Full programme for ICHS 2024 is out (First International Symposium on Circular Hydrometallurgy, Mechelen, Belgium, 9-11 September 2024).

The full version of the documentary “Europe’s Mining Renaissance” has now been released. This film addresses Europe’s quest to responsibly mine the energy-transition metals that are needed to fuel the transition to climate neutrality.

In the framework of the SULTAN project, researchers from VITO and KU Leuven collaborated on developing an innovative solvometallurgical leaching method for extracting lead from zinc calcine and zinc leaching residue materials.

On 27 March 2024, during the prestigious DOCVILLE film festival in Leuven, the KU Leuven Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals (SIM²) will be releasing a new Storyrunner documentary that investigates the status of this Mining Renaissance in Europe.

On March 27, 2024, a new documentary entitled “Europe’s Mining Renaissance”, will premiere in Leuven during the DOCVILLE film festival. After the film a high-level panel discussion will take place, featuring Ia Modin, Julia Poliscanova, Nick Meynen, Peter Tom Jones and John Vandaele.

The long-awaited mini-documentary “The Sami Perspective” is now available. The film tries to understand why the indigenous reindeer-herding Sami communities are so strongly opposed to metal mining in the North of Sweden. This joint press release provides the essential background.

Recently, Peter Tom Jones was invited to Sweden to present the SIM²/EXCEED/ENICON documentary “Made in Europe: from mine to electric vehicle” (24–30 Jan 2024). In the space of 6 days, the film was presented in three distinct locations. Here you can find Jones’ key takeaways.

In this op-ed, published in De Tijd (13 January 2024), Peter Tom Jones argues that, in a time of protectionism, Europe needs to undergo reindustrialization, including state aid. Resource nationalism is forcing us towards a mining renaissance.

“Make no mistake. The tsunami of cheap, subsidised Chinese Electric Vehicles is coming. Europe seems to have been sleepwalking into an abyss.”, that’s the opening statement of SIM²’s new documentary “The Nordic challenge: from mine to Electric Vehicle” in collaboration with the ENICON and EXCEED EU projects.

In the framework of the HE ENICON projects, SOLVOMET/SIM² KU Leuven researchers Lommelen & Binnemans developed a molecular thermodynamic model for the solvent extraction of minerals acids using TBP.

The SOLVOMET Group is delighted to announce the publication of its long-awaited position paper “The Twelve Principles of Circular Hydrometalllurgy” in the Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy.

On October 20, 2022, the documentary “Responsible Mining in Europe: A new paradigm to counter climate change” was officially launched. Here we provide an overview of testimonials as obtained from various experts worldwide.

SAVE THE DATE for the satellite event of the EU Raw Materials Week “(Re)mining extractive waste – Perspectives for the EU?” (Closing NEMO event – Le Plaza Hotel, Brussels, 15 November 2022, 2 pm).

During 4 days, young students and researchers from 9 different institutions gathered in Sweden to visit mines, smelters, R&D centers and industrial plants. Here is the report of Carlos Quintero (SOLVOMET/SIM² KU Leuven).

Within the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 project NEMO, SOLVOMET/SIM2 researchers have compared the effect of mixer-settlers and agitated columns on the separation of cobalt and nickel with Cyanex 272.

SOLVOMET/SIM² researchers have published their research on the effect of polar organic solvents on the solvent extraction process for rare-earth separation. The research was performed in the framework of the H2020 project NEMO.

To remine or not to remine extractive waste in Europe? That was the core question during the symposium “(Re)Mining Extractive Waste, A new business?” (Mechelen, May 17-18, 2022). SIM² Director Peter Tom Jones summarises the main lessons learned.

On March 10, 2022, the joint NEMO/CROCODILE/TARANTULA expert panel discussed the “Global perspectives on the reprocessing of mine tailings”. The objective was to find common ground and to enable the elaboration of specific EU policy recommendations.

Within the context of EU NEMO, SIM² KU Leuven/SOLVOMET researchers developed a non-aqueous solvent extraction process for the separation of heavy rare earths (HREEs). The work was published in Separation & Purification Technology.

SIM² KU Leuven geologists have described the occurrence of Nb and Ta oxide minerals associated with complex phosphate mineral assemblages in phosphorus-rich pegmatites. The work is published in the American Mineralogist.

Can mining waste become a raw material for (circular) construction materials? In this new video, the EU MSCA-ETN SULTAN team highlights the project results in terms of remining present day and historical sulphidic tailings.

SOLVOMET/SIM² researchers have published a critical review paper in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research on the different systems and mechanisms of non-aqueous solvent extraction, providing a framework for future processes.

SOLVOMET/SIM² KU Leuven researchers developed a conceptual flowsheet for the non-aqueous recovery of tungsten from low-grade scheelite sources. The work was published in the journal Industrial and Chemical Engineering Research.

SULTAN, the EU Training Network for the remediation and reprocessing of sulphidic mining waste sites, has launched its long-awaited Thematic Section in the Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy, comprising 10 research papers.

The 2-day symposium “(Re)Mining extractive waste, a new business?” gathers leading experts in the field of (re)mining of mining-related waste, with a focus on the tailings that arise during the mining and processing of sulphidic ores.

The development of novel technologies in the raw materials extraction and processing can help to promote at the same time a secure and sustainable future for Europe and gender equality

In the framework of the International Conference on Raw Materials and Circular Economy #RawMat2021, held on September, 5-9th 2021 in Athens (Greece), Lourdes Yurramendi presented the Oral Communication: Recovery of tungsten from downstream mineral...

SIM² KU Leuven geologists have revealed a close relationship between the geometry of W-Sn and Nb-Ta-Li bearing hydrothermal veins and pegmatites in Iberia and the deformation processes active during the Variscan orogeny.

On April 27 more than 220 people participated in the event “Can the recycling of mining waste become a new business?” Three experts from EC DG ENV, Boliden & Cronimet shared their views. Here are the main lessons learned…

SOLVOMET/SIM² researchers have published a critical review paper in the high-impact journal “Chemical Reviews” on the oxidative dissolution of metals in organic solvents, which can offer a solution when aqueous systems fail.

Researchers from Wageningen University and SIM² KU Leuven reviewed recent SLO-literature and concluded that the way how SLO is conceptualised and often implemented in practice, does little to enhance the legitimacy of resource extraction.

After participating to the RMIS workshop of December 3, 2020, TARANTULA will collaborate with the EC JRC for the development of the RMIS.

SIM² KU Leuven geologists Hulsboch and Muchez were able to assess the impact of fluid immiscibility on the fractionation and precipitation of lithium, tantalum and tin in pegmatites from Rwanda. The work was published in Lithos.

Recently the EC published its updated, fourth list of Critical Raw Materials. In this article Martina Orefice (SIM² KU Leuven) assesses the (increased) criticality of Nb, Ta and W, the target metals for EU TARANTULA.

Referring to the Greek mythological figure of Tantalus, Seftel Elena Mihaela (VITO) and Martina Orefice (KU Leuven) explain the concept of the TARANTULA project in this new animated video: “Recycling the strongest metals”.

The imminent deployment of accelerator magnets based on the superconductor Nb3Sn for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) at CERN serves as a springboard to future accelerator magnets for fundamental exploration.

The Ekeberg Prize is the annual award that recognizes excellence in published research about the element tantalum (Ta). The Ekeberg Prize increases awareness of the many unique properties of tantalum products and the applications in which they excel.

​“Solvent extraction at Chalmers has given us a new insight, figuratively speaking it is like a new form of vision”, says Mark Foreman, Associate Professor in Nuclear Chemistry/Industrial Materials Recycling and one of the authors behind a scientific paper recently published in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.

On Friday June 19, two strong women bravely fought a fierce battle against the mythical figure Tantalus… Why is this relevant here?? Well, it is the opening scene of the TARANTULA project video! In reality two researchers from KU Leuven and VITO (dr. Martina Orefice...

A BBC Future article featuring Ana Maria Martinez (SINTEF) illustrates that old electronics are domestic mines of precious metals. Martina Orefice (SIM² KU Leuven) provides further background referring to several EU projects.

“The Missing Link of the Circular Economy 2.0” video shows why the waste of the past cannot be consigned to oblivion. A comprehensive Circular Economy vision should, therefore, find answers for Europe’s 500,000+ landfills.

How feasible is the transition to a climate-neutral economy (European Green Deal) in terms of the availability of the required (critical) metals? During the March 12 Seminar in Brussels an expert panel tried to provide answers.

How sustainable is artisanal cobalt mining in DR Congo? That’s the research question which was addressed in a Nature Sustainability paper by a group of researchers of the University of Lubumbashi in collaboration with a team from KU Leuven.

“Critical Raw Materials”, such as the iconic “rare earths”, are gaining more and more attention. Less-known CRMs are tungsten, niobium and tantalum, which are targeted in EU TARANTULA. Martina Orefice (SIM² KU Leuven) investigates why these elements are critical and what TARANTULA can do about that.

Rare-earths permanent magnets were selectively roasted with 5 wt.% carbon to obtain a rare-earth phase, separated from iron particles. After mechanical removal of the iron particles, the rare-earth phase was recovered in only 20 min by using the ionic liquid [Hbet][Tf2N].

“The Dark Side of the Circular Economy” is the title of the ELFM V Symposium Aftermovie (5-2-2020). Referring to the EC’s pending Circular Economy Action Plan the video highlights one major blind spot in this plan. How will we deal with the waste of the past?

On October 14th to 16th the T.I.C. held its 60th General Assembly (conference and AGM) in Hong Kong SAR, China. This event is the world’s leading international tantalum-niobium conference, and this year, despite the negative journalism about Hong Kong in recent...

“Inconvenient truths of the circular economy” is the title of an interview with prof. Markus Reuter for the Aurubis magazine in which the main challenges and opportunities of recycling and the circular economy are analyzed.

Methanesulfonic acid (MSA) has proven again to be a suitable lixiviant for the recovery of valuable metals. Within the SMART project, the SOLVOMET group has developed a solvometallurgical process for the selective recovery of lead and silver from industrial residues.

The corporate TARANTULA poster was presented during the EIP Raw Materials week

The short movie ‘Stairway to Sustainability’ reveals the results of the MSCA-ETN SOCRATES project. The researchers have found ways to transform the various metal-containing industrial process residues into recyclables and high-added value outputs. And they even made a staircase out of it!

The second consortium meeting of the H2020 RIA TARANTULA took place on 5 and 6 November 2019 in Seville, Spain.

The use of lithium in the production of cathode materials for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIB’s) that maked it a strategical raw material

The Science, Engineering & Technology Group of KU Leuven, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Department of Materials Engineering and Department of Chemical Engineering, has a joint, full-time academic vacancy in the area of metal recovery from mineral flows. We are...

In October 2019 the T.I.C. - also a partner in TARANTULA - held its 60th ‘General Assembly' (annual conference) at the Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong. In October 2019 the T.I.C. held its 60th ‘General Assembly' (annual conference) at the Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong. This...

T.I.C., the Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center has published their latest quarterly newsletter, featuring an article about the decrease in supply chain risk of tantalum of the past decade. T.I.C., as a partner in the EU H2020 RIA project TARANTULA, will...

The International Tungsten Industry Association (ITIA) has published a valuable 24-page Newsletter on the recycling of tungsten, distinguishing between direct and chemical recycling.

Within the SOLCRIMET project (ERC Advanced Grant), Zheng Li et al. discovered that selection of suitable polar solvents can enhance metal separations in liquid-liquid extraction. The work has been published in Chem. Eur. J.

Within the SMART project, Nerea Rodriguez et al. have shown that Deep Eutectic Solvents based on carboxylic acids and choline chloride are not stable in time nor at high temperatures. The work was published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

The EC’s Joint Research Centre has published a milestone report on the recovery of cricial raw materials (CRMs) from mining waste and landfills. SIM² KU Leuven & EURELCO coordinator Peter Tom Jones discusses the key conclusions of the report.

Antonio Pedro of the UN International Resource Panel presented several key challenges for ‘mineral resources governance in the 21st century’ during a short webinar. Feedback from the workshop ‘Ensuring the SLO concept is adaptive and resilient’ complemented the debate.

“Ensuring that ‘Social License to Operate’ (SLO) is Adaptive and Resilient” was the topic of a recent workshop organized by EU MIREU (supported by NEMO, CROCODILE & TARANTULA). This article reflects upon the key lessons learned.

The ETN SULTAN team has just released its official (animated) video on the reprocessing of tailings. SULTAN Researcher Jillian Helser explains how the SULTAN target is to transform mining waste (tailings) into valuable products.

On April 1-5, 2019, the Sixth International Slag Valorisation Symposium took place in Mechelen, Belgium. This Symposium aims at contributing towards near zero-waste processing and closing material loops in the metallurgical sector through creating applications for...

Gone are the days of singe stream production, we now live in a world of supply chains. These supply chains are becoming increasingly complex and interwoven.  The rare earth (REE) supply chain is notoriously contentious and convoluted, and has been subject to many...