CLC experiments with technology to transform mine waste into cobalt

The Spanish mining company, Cobre Las Cruces (CLC), is part of the EU-funded RAWMINA project, where they will be testing new technologies aimed at extracting cobalt, tungsten, gold, and silver from mine waste. These innovative extraction methods are crucial for the energy transition, especially in the development of renewable energies and new energy storage systems like electric vehicle batteries. One of the methods being tested is bioleaching, which uses microorganisms to extract metals from rocks in a hydrometallurgical process. Bioleaching offers several benefits over conventional metallurgical processes, including lower energy and chemical consumption, reduced CO2 footprint, and lower capital and operational costs.

The testing of these methods will take place at the pilot plant built by CLC in 2016 as part of its future polymetallic refinery project. Being able to produce critical raw materials from mine waste could help reduce European dependence on external markets like China. The RAWMINA project, initiated in 2021, is now in its final phase and involves an international consortium of 19 specialist partners from 10 countries. CLC’s Director of Innovation and Environment, Joaquín Gotor, highlighted the project’s role in adding new metals to their production portfolio using circular economy principles and contributing to greater environmental sustainability in the green transition.

Marco Lopes, Impact Acceleration Manager at project partner Crowdhelix, sees RAWMINA as a key player in mitigating EU critical resource scarcity. He emphasizes the importance of revolutionizing raw material production within the EU by leveraging mine waste resources. Through an innovative pilot system, RAWMINA aims to establish a sustainable and efficient process for extracting these essential materials.