Abstract:

The increasing demand for raw materials has led to a shift in focus towards extractive waste sites as potential sources of secondary resources. The FutuRaM project, funded by the Horizon Europe programme, is investigating secondary raw materials in Europe. The FutuRaM knowledge base is poised to become a valuable source on the availability and recoverability of secondary raw materials within the European Union, with a special focus on critical raw materials. Based on the preliminary data from the largest closed metal mine sites in Finland, these sites may contain considerable amounts of cobalt (22,300 tonnes), copper (103,400 tonnes), and nickel (92,600 tonnes). Most of these metals are expected to be found in the assessed 20 tailings sites, with waste amounts ranging from 0.4 to 20 Mt and totalling around 131 Mt. To a lesser extent metals could be hosted by the eight investigated waste rock sites, with waste amounts ranging from 0.3 to 5.5 Mt and totalling around 18 Mt. However, the existing data is uncertain due to e.g., the limited number of samples from most of the sites. Furthermore, the relatively low concentrations of these raw materials, commonly ranging from 0.002 to 0.2%, compared to conventional ore grades, pose significant challenges in beneficiation and, thus, eventually economic remining of extractive wastes in Finland. This study emphasizes the potential of the closed Finnish extractive waste sites as sources of critical raw materials, while concurrently highlighting the difficulties associated with resource estimation and feasible valorization. A holistic approach to extractive waste management is needed, as remining critical raw materials seldom achieves economic viability alone. Remining requires consideration of all potentially viable solutions. This means that the focus should be on comprehensively evaluating different valorization possibilities for the extractive waste, alongside environmental impacts and social responsibility.

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Gabriele Baldassarre