NEWS

Press Release: “The Sami Perspective: a new mini-documentary”

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.

“Open day” for local citizens by Strategic Minerals Spain

On the 5th of June, 2023 an "Open day” for local citizens was organised by Tarantula partner Strategic Minerals Spain. People from the surrounding areas were received and a presentation about the work of the company was given, supported by a poster. During this day...

Tarantula at the EU Raw Materials Week

Tarantula was invited to participate at the EU Raw Materials Week that was held from 13-17 November, 2023 in Brussels. It was a hybrid event gathering a wide range of stakeholders discussing policies and initiatives in the field of raw materials. Tarantula project...

The making of “Made in Europe: from mine to Electric Vehicle”

“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.

TIC 62nd General Assembly (2021)

The 62nd General Assembly will be held in London, UK, on November 14th to 17th 2021. On this event Tecnalia and PNO will present our TARANTULA project. The 2021 conference will explore issues such as: How by-product tantalum from lithium mining could...

PLATIRUS Exploitation Workshop (April 21, 2021)

The PLATIRUS project is organizing an Online Exploitation Workshop on 21 April. The event will bring together stakeholders from across the Europe who are interested in the topic of the recovery of Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) from a wide variety of waste resources...

ICAMCyL will represent TARANTULA at the next RMIS workshop

On 3rd December 2020, the 4th workshop of the RMIS (Raw Materials Information System) will be held online by JRC (Joint Research Centre) and EASME (European Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises) and it will have as object “Channelling knowledge from European...

Upgrading CERN with niobium-tin magnets

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 Anders Gustaf Ekeberg Tantalum Prize 2020

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.

Meet our TARANTULA colleague: Mark Foreman (Chalmers University)

Dr. Mark Foreman is an associate professor at Chalmers University in Sweden. He is very much interested in solvent extraction. Within the TARANTULA project, he aims to develop new solvent extraction processes that allow for an efficient recovery of niobium and...

Chalmers researchers are probing the properties of new green solvents

​“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.

New video: The Missing Link of the Circular Economy 2.0

“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.

Sustainability of artisanal mining of cobalt in DR Congo

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.

Why tungsten, niobium and tantalum are critical raw materials

“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.

New video: The Dark Side of the Circular Economy

“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?

Methanesulfonic acid proves its potential in solvometallurgy

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.

Public acceptance of mining and recycling in Europe: six recommendations

Public acceptance or the ‘Social License to Operate’ is widely acknowledged as the biggest financial risk for the mining sector. Six different perspectives and recommendations coming from six different sectors were debated during a satellite event of the EU Raw Materials Week (22 Nov. 2019).

A jackpot from the waste

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

Open Position for a Professor in METAL RECOVERY FROM MINERAL FLOWS

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...

JRC report on CRM recovery from mining waste & landfills

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.

TARANTULA H2020 EU project kicks-off

TECNALIA the leader of the project, hosted this kick-off meeting at its facilities in San Sebastián (Spain), the past 4th and 5th of June. Main objectives of the meeting were to set the official start of the project, establish relations between all...

Ensuring the SLO concept is adaptive and resilient

“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.

Green slag valorisation is now an industrial success story

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...

Are Chinese policies disrupting the REE supply chain?

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...

EU H2020 TARANTULA

Recovery of Tungsten, Niobium and Tantalum occurring as by-products in mining and processing waste streams

SOCIAL MEDIA

This project has received funding from the European Union's EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under Grant Agreement No 821159