Jérôme Jacob works in BRGM, the French geosurvey as a bioprocess engineer in the waste and raw materials unit. What are you working on? My work combines research and operative activities. One part of my work is focused on the development of new bioleaching processes. The goal then is to improve bioleaching efficiency, to address more types of ore or ...

Carmen Falagán Rodríguez is a Research Fellow at the Camborne School of Mines and the Environmental and Sustainability Institute (University of Exeter). She is currently working full time in the project NEMO in WP1 focusing on bioleaching of mine residues, looking at the microbial activity and mineral transformations.

The consortium of the NEMO project had foreseen to organize the month-24 review meeting in the installations of VTT in Tampere on May 5 and 6, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the physical meeting was cancelled and replace by a series of conference calls. After several intensive sessions on Microsoft Teams, the project coordinator Mika Pajaanen could thank ...

SIM² KU Leuven researchers have developed a new solvometallurgical extraction process to produce copper from sulphidic copper ore minerals (e.g. chalcopyrite), allowing to reduce the eco-footprint of primary copper production.

SIM² KU Leuven - SOLVOMET researchers have developed a novel solvent extraction system to remove magnesium from lithium-rich solutions, allowing a major reduction of the eco-footprint of lithium recovery from brines.

“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.

“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.

Researchers from the SREMat Group (SIM² KU Leuven) have published a critical review paper on the potential transformation of bauxite residue (“red mud”) into valuable building materials, trying to “put things in perspective”.

“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?