Enhanced Ni/Co refining capacity in Europe to process both EU-sources and imported non-EU ores, concentrates and intermediate
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.
ENICON project is a founding member of the Cluster Hub for Production of Raw Materials for Batteries from European Resources https://www.materialsforbatterieshub.eu
SIM² KU Leuven geologists Prof. Jan Elsen and Prof. Ruben Snellings are proud to announce the publication of the Elements Special Issue “Cement and Concrete: From the Romans to Mars”.
Following a 25-year VP-level career at Umicore, Ben Gilliams has decided to make a remarkable career switch. On January 9, Ben started as Senior Valorisation Director at SOLVOMET ISC, one of SIM² KU Leuven’s innovation flagships.
The SOLVOMET Group is delighted to announce the publication of its long-awaited position paper “The Twelve Principles of Circular Hydrometalllurgy” in the Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy.
In May 2020 the SOLVOMET Group filed the patent application “Method for producing battery grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate” that became public in November 2021. The second part of the patented flowsheet is now fully disclosed in JSM.
On November 15, 20222, the closing event for NEMO was organised as a Satellite Event of the 7th EU Raw Materials week. The key outcomes of the project were presented. All presentations are now available.
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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon Europe under Grant Agreement No. 101058124
