Enhanced Ni/Co refining capacity in Europe to process both EU-sources and imported non-EU ores, concentrates and intermediate
The documentary investigates the challenges faced by Europe as it attempts to set up its own, fully integrated, mine-to-EV value chain.
The film acts as a wake-up call to avoid that Europe’s decarbonisation strategy leads to a nightmarish de-industrialisation. Instead, the documentary shows that Europe’s transition to climate neutrality can go hand in hand with a cleantech-based re-industrialisation. Made-in-Europe.
In this documentary Peter Tom Jones (Director KU Leuven Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals) searches for answers to Europe’s ambiguous relationship with primary mining of energy-transition metals. The documentary wants to trigger a more-informed debate about the three-pronged strategy of the European Commission in terms of raw materials for the climate transition and related planetary problems, i.e. (1) more and better recycling, (2) responsible sourcing from outside Europe; (3) responsible mining in Europe. The central questions tackled in the documentary are: how can Europe avoid the nightmarish scenario on becoming completely dependent on China et al. for (refined) rare earths, lithium, cobalt, nickel, tin etc. How can mining be(come) socially and environmentally responsible? How can we overcome the NIMBY syndrome?
The ENICON consortium has been set up with great care to combine complementary expertise, spanning the entire Ni/Co value chain (from mine to battery-grade Ni and Co (salts) as precursor for NMC cathodes) and covering both the Ni/Co sulphide mines/deposits/Tailings Storage Facilities (mainly in Scandinavia) and Ni(/Co) laterites (mainly in Southeast Europe) (see Fig. 1.1). Likewise, the participants have complementary and interdisciplinary expertise in the areas of ore geology; forensic geometallurgy; minerals (pre)processing; bio-, pyro-, electro- and hydrometallurgy; geochemistry and coordination chemistry; materials science; thermodynamic and process modelling; environmental and techno-economic assessment; as well as industrial production of FeNi, Ni-matte and battery-grade Ni and Co.
On Thursday, 16 November, during the 2023 edition of the Raw Materials Week, the twelve EU funded projects that constitute the Cluster Hub ‘Materials for batteries’ gathered for their annual event in Brussels. The proceedings of this meeting are now available.
In the documentary, SIM² manager Peter Tom Jones travels to the Far North and visits the Kiruna and Aitik mines in northern Sweden.
Iryna Makarava (Aalto University) presented results at the 244th ECS Meeting (Götenborg, Sweden) on electrochemical oxidation of cobalt that have been done at Aalto University in
“Make no mistake. The tsunami of cheap, subsidised Chinese Electric Vehicles is coming. Europe seems to have been sleepwalking into an abyss.”, that’s the opening statement of SIM²’s new documentary “The Nordic challenge: from mine to Electric Vehicle” in collaboration with the ENICON and EXCEED EU projects.
The ENICON researchers Seyedehmaryam Sadeghi and Brecht Dewulf (SOLVOMET / SIM2 KU Leuven) and Nivea Magalhaes (University of Exeter) have presented their latest research in the
A European mine to EV value chain? Pipe dream or a resounding “yes, we can!”. Find out in this Trends Talk with Peter Tom Jones (26 August 2023, Kanaal Z). A 30-minute hard-talk interview about our dangerous reliance on China.
1st ENICON Capacity Building Seminar 2-3 October 2023 The ENICON (https://enicon-horizon.eu) Horizon Europe funded research project, organizes the 1st Capacity Building Seminar, on the 2nd
Binnemans & Jones published a new position paper in JSM: “Ionic Liquids and Deep-Eutectic Solvents in Extractive Metallurgy: Mismatch Between Academic Research and Industrial Applicability”. Here we publish some testimonials.
Koen Binnemans was awarded a second ERC Advanced Grant for his CIRMET project: Circular Hydrometallurgy for Energy-Transition. SIM² provides a sneak preview of what you can expect in CIRMET in this open-hearted interview.
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