Environmental efficiency for mineral processing through the innovation network – INNOMIN

Various climate technologies such as solar panels, electric vehicles and wind turbines are being built faster than ever, making the sustainable availability of critical raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, copper, phosphorus, and rare earths crucial. However, many of the processing methods used in mining industry are over 100 years old and were not originally developed to be sustainable. The following top technologies are emerging from the most efficient and controlled separation methods, which the mining and process industry has already shown interest in.

Mining and process industry is a very important industry for Eastern and Northern Finland. In the beneficiation processes, lower-quality and more complex mineral deposits are increasingly being processed, which challenges mining industry even more. The currently used comminution and processing methods consume an unreasonable amount of energy and produce more mining waste burdening the environment and human health. The processing of the material also creates large amounts of water emissions, which contain heavy metal residues and chemicals, for which new processing solutions would have to be developed in terms of water purification and increasing the closure rate. The renewal of the mining industry’s processes has lagged behind, and in order for the mining industry to be able to respond to requirements by the green transition under the prevailing stricter emission limits, the unit processes must be re-examined. The goal of the project is to find new innovative solutions for the dry enrichment, leaching and flotation of mineral fractions needed in the green transition, where the processing of the material in the enrichment phase can be carried out in accordance with sustainable development with less energy, and in a way where the burden on the environment would be as low as possible. The unit processes developed during the project and the overall process formed by them enable users of knowledge and technologies to reduce the environmental impact of industry. In addition, the goal is to develop process methods to promote the use of by-streams and wastes that are still poorly utilized in industry, especially for minerals classified as critical raw material (CRM). In the project, the goal is to develop intelligent measurement and modelling solutions to improve the management of preliminary and further processes. The project also investigates how the use of carbon dioxide gas prevent the oxidation of sulphide ores containing important base metals. The goal is to reduce the use of chemicals and find solutions to increase the degree of closure of process waters. The goal is also carrying out flotation with sustainable development, using more environmentally friendly chemicals. The project investigates the percolation and precipitation properties of different materials from the perspectives of both the recovery of precious metals and water purification. The project produces results for the intelligent management of the use of chemicals, raw materials and water in mine enrichment processes and promotes development steps towards zero emission mining.