CORDIS results pack on sustainable processing of mineral resources : safety, sustainability and security for Europe’s mineral processing industry.
Date: 2022-05-23
Institutions: CORDIS, European Health and Digital Executive Agency, Publications Office of the European Union
Subjects: applied research, environmental protection, geology, innovation, mineral resources, mining extraction, new technology, physical sciences, rare earth, raw material, research and development, research project, sustainable development

Sustainable Processing 
of Mineral Resources

Dependence on mineral resources is rooted in their use in a plethora of devices and everyday applications: 
mobile phones, flat screen televisions, automobiles, solar panels, space guidance systems, jet engines 
and pacemakers. Even a smart phone contains more than 50 metals, including rare earth elements that 
are in huge demand with limited supply.

Research and  
Innovation

Safety, sustainability and security for Europe’s mineral processing industryTo achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal, there is a need 
for the supply and use of raw materials to meet the needs of a growing 
population that stays within the sustainable limits of our planet's natural 
resources and ecosystems. 

Raw materials, in particular critical raw materials (CRMs), are crucial to 
Europe’s economy. A reliable, uninterrupted supply of CRMs is necessary 
to enable a strong industrial base to produce the goods and technologies 
we have come to rely on in daily life.

Highlights of EU Research 

The seven projects in this pack address many challenges: CRMs can 
be rare and difficult to extract, exposure to them is often hazardous 
and toxic to the environment and their supply chains are vulnerable to 
competition from outside Europe. 

NEMO
Near-zero-waste recycling of low-grade sulphidic mining waste  
for critical-metal, mineral and construction raw-material production  
in a circular economy 

Coordinated in Finland 

Contributing to the circular economy in the construction arena, NEMO has 
demonstrated the potential use of mine tailings in concrete products as well 
as recovering additional metals from sulfidic residues. 

RemovAL
Removing the waste streams from the primary Aluminium  
production and other metal sectors in Europe  
Coordinated in Greece 

© Anna Kucherova, Shutterstock

Aluminium production yields a vast amount of bauxite residue and the 
RemovAL project converts this into new products including substrate for road 
construction and building aggregates.

© anakul, Shutterstock

 
 
SecREEts
Secure European Critical Rare Earth Elements  

Coordinated in Norway

The SecREEts project extracts rare earth elements from phosphate rocks  
used in fertiliser production. Exotic-sounding metals like praseodymium are 
extracted and used in permanent magnets for space exploration and healthcare. 

CHROMIC
effiCient mineral processing and Hydrometallurgical RecOvery  
of by-product Metals from low-grade metal contaIning seCondary  
raw materials  

Coordinated in Belgium 

Making use of steel waste streams, CHROMIC removes chromium for use in 
the high-tech sector.

FineFuture
Innovative technologies and concepts for fine particle flotation: 
unlocking future fine-grained deposits and Critical Raw Materials 
resources for the EU 

Coordinated in Germany

New methods devised by the FineFuture project separate metal particles as 
small as 20  µm so that they are not discarded.  

PLATIRUS
PLATInum group metals Recovery Using Secondary raw materials 

Coordinated in Spain 

PLATIRUS may enable the recovery enough valuable platinum from mining 
and electronic waste to fill the supply gap up to 30 %, making Europe more 
competitive.

© Torbjorn Tandberg

© junrong, Shutterstock

© HZDR

© LuYago, Shutterstock

SCALE
Production of Scandium compounds and Scandium Aluminum alloys 
from European metallurgical by- products 

Coordinated in Greece 

The SCALE project aims to establish a closed supply chain for the valuable 
metal used in high-intensity lighting and 3D printing applications.

© feelthedrone, Shuttertock

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EU Research and Innovation is reducing waste  
and closing supply chain gaps

Covering a wide range of the critical raw materials necessary for high-tech 
industry, EU research and innovation funded under Horizon 2020 demonstrates 
that these raw materials and side streams that often end up as waste can be 
produced or reused sustainably through innovation. 

Tapping the full potential of primary and secondary raw materials,  
these research projects boost the innovation capacity of the EU raw materials 
sector along the entire value chain.

Learn more about
Communication on The European Green Deal: europa.eu/!GK69JT
European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials: europa.eu/!NfUd3v
Strategic Implementation Plan: europa.eu/!WBmtfd
Critical Raw Materials: europa.eu/!qXTJy4
Raw Materials Information System (RMIS): europa.eu/!xQNR6n

European Health and Digital Executive Agency: hadea.ec.europa.eu/index_en
Horizon Europe: europa.eu/!Xf47NRP
Horizon 2020: europa.eu/!bymQHX

  @EU_HaDEA 

  www.linkedin.com/company/european-health-and-digital-

executive-agency-hadea/?originalSubdomain=be

This Results Pack is a collaboration between CORDIS and  
the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). 
cordis@publications.europa.eu

of the European Union
eur-lex.europa.eu • EU law
publications.europa.eu • EU publications
ted.europa.eu • Public procurement 
cordis.europa.eu • Research and development

ISBN 978-92-78-42932-4
doi:10.2830/6110