Modular recovery process services for hydrometallurgy and water treatment
The first year of the Morecovery project is behind, and the sampling campaign was successfully completed.
The project team examined several mine sites in different parts of Finland to assess the recovery potential of valuable metals from drainage water. Collected data were used to develop cost-effective water treatment and metals recovery methods. The upcoming months will bring new challenges, as the first pilot campaign on Ni & Co recovery is on its way.
Morecovery project will enhance the eco-efficient and sustainable use of natural resources
The need for raw materials, especially Rare Earth Elements (REE), is increasing rapidly in the EU and globally. At the same time, the amount of extractive waste is increasing drastically together with concerns related to the environmental effects of mining. The mining industry can achieve more eco-efficient and selective raw material production by enhancing the utilisation of side streams and mine waste.
Innovation project Morecovery aims to enhance the eco-efficient and sustainable use of natural resources creating a modular recovery process service package for hydrometallurgy and water treatment. The project will demonstrate that the modular pilot plant with selective metal recovery processes will work on a larger scale at target sites. Also, the organic adsorbents will be tested for efficient applications in semi-passive drainage water treatment and REE and base metal recovery.
After this project, the water treatment pilot plant will be up-scaled and proved to work in larger-scale process and adsorbent testing at hydrometallurgical process sites, widening significantly the current business opportunities. Organic adsorbents, e.g. biochars will be proved to be efficient in large scale hydrometallurgical processes and mine waste drainage treatment, becoming a useful part of the side stream utilisation and circular economy. The metal recovery processes at target sites will be enhanced in critical raw materials recovery.
The modular recovery process service package including lab-scale services and a mobile pilot plant will be a powerful tool in developing utilisation and cleaning of mining side streams.
