KU Leuven Research programme zero-waste recycling of mine tailings

1. KU Leuven Research programme on the
Zero-waste recycling of mine tailings
EMC Conference, Rimini, Italy, 11-15 September 2016
Lieven Machiels, Philippe Muchez, Valérie Cappuyns,
Jan Elsen, Peter Tom Jones, Koen Binnemans

2. Contents
1. SIM2 KU Leuven: introduction & the zero-waste recycling concept
2. Current and future work – a zero waste recycling concept for mine
tailings.
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Cover picture: Żelazny Most – largest tailing pond in Europe – Cu flotation tailings - KGHM
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBelazny_Most_%28lake%29

3. SIM2 KU Leuven:
introduction & the zero-
waste recycling concept

4. SIM² KU Leuven - www.sim2.be (new website)
Consortium of research groups at KU Leuven (Belgium) on
Sustainable Inorganic Materials Management
Involved groups at KU Leuven:
Materials Engineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering,
Geology, Civil Engineering, Law, Economics and Business
studies
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5. www.supportunicef.com
SIM² Vision: A Society that uses
its resources in an efficient,
effective and sustainable way.
SIM² Mission: SIM² targets zero-
waste, environmental-friendly,
cost-effective recovery/recycling
approaches, covering the full
value chain.
SIM² KU Leuven - www.sim2.be (new website)
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6. K. Binnemans et al.,
Journal of Cleaner
Production, 2015
SIM² KU Leuven - www.sim2.be (new website)
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7. KU Leuven SIM2 has build up a very strong research portfolio
in metallurgy and zero waste recycling!
• Active in urban mining
• Active in metallurgical slag recycling to metals & novel
binders
• Active in municipal solid waste treatment, enhanced landfill
mining
• Active in recycling of metallurgical sludges (e.g. red mud)
Current objective is to extend this portfolio to mine tailings
SIM² KU Leuven - www.sim2.be (new website)
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8. The (near)-zero-waste recycling concept
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9. Current and future work
- a the zero waste
recycling concept for
mine tailings

10. Can we introduce a near-zero waste
recycling concept for the treatment of mine
tailings?
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11. Sulphidic tailings from ore beneficiation processes in the
non-ferrous metal mining
Example: Żelazny Most – largest tailing pond in Europe – Sulphidic Cu flotation
tailings – KGHM
On annual basis:*
• 30 Mtonnes of tailings are discarded in the pond
• 63 ktonnen of Cu, but also considerable volumes of Ag, V, Pb and also Co,
Ni, Mo, Au, Zn are discarded in the tailing ponds
Today it is economically not feasible to
further process sulphidic tailings
*Calculations based on data available in
EC BREF document tailings management
Picture: Wikipedia

12. 12
Hydrometallurgical tailings from Fe, Al, Zn production
Example: Red mud
Around 256 Mtonnes available around Europe
Metals of interest: Y, Sc, other REEs, Ti
Today it is economically not feasible to
further process oxidic tailings
Red mud deposit near Stade (Germany)
Source Picture: Wikipedia
Etn.red-mud.org

13. 13
Sulphate tailings
Example: Gypsum residues from Phosphorous production
The amount of REE (La, Ce, Pr, Nd) in a single phosphogypsum deposit can be in
the same order of magnitude as the current global, yearly REE production
13
Today it is economically not feasible to
further process sulphate tailings
Wislinka phosphogypsum heap, Poland
Source Picture: http://www.maurent.pl/

14. 14
Summary – Although enormous amounts of
(critical) metals are present in tailing
deposits around the E.U., tailings recycling
is today not at all economically viable

15. Additional motivations..
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 Costs of remediation of historical, abandoned mining
sites are estimated at 1 billion/euro per annum in
Europe*
 Ores become progressively more low-grade, meaning
that per tonne of metal produced, the amount of tailings
only increases for a given mining site
 Tailing dam accidents the past 10 years make it more
difficult to open new mining sites in Europe
*Source:European Commission (2013). Brownfield Regeneration. Science for Environment Policy; Thematic
issue 39; May 2013; http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/39si_en.pdf

16. 18/09/2016 16
Current revision of the BREF
document Management of
Tailings and Waste-Rock in
Mining Activities
Can we introduce zero-waste
recycling concepts as an
alternative for state-of-the art
tailings treatment?

17.  Economic viability
 State-of-the art technology has been developed for
processing high grade ores and is not economic and not
sustainable for tailings recycling
 Business as usual = Discarding tailings in a tailing pond =
currently very cheap (few €/tonne)
 Volumes are enormous, even if solutions are found for the
mineral fractions of tailings after metal extraction, can the
building market cope with such a large volumes?
Main Challenges
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17

18. Current KU Leuven tailings projects
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 EU Training Network (H2020) developing
new metallurgical systems and zero-
waste recycling flowsheets for low grade
residue’s including sulphidic Cu flotation
tailings and Fe-rich tailings (jarosite) from
Zn production
 KU Leuven coordinator
 Started 1 September 2016
 http://etn-socrates.eu/
 EU Training Network (H2020) for zero-
waste valorization of bauxite residue (red
mud)
 KU Leuven coordinator
 Project period: 2015-2018
 http://etn.redmud.org/

19. 19
EIT Raw Materials counts 6 physical
centres. One is located in Leuven (the
“Western CLC”)
http://eitrawmaterials.eu/clc-location/clc-
west/
Current KU Leuven tailings projects
RE-ACTIVATE
 Developing superior technical
infrastructure throughout EIT
RawMaterials community to foster
technologies and methodologies for
re-activation of former mine sites
 Ultimate goal – introduction of novel
technology in European industry
through EIT KIC Raw Matters
upscaling projects and Horizon2020
project.
 Coordinator: DMT (Germany)
 Start: 1 January 2017

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Current KU Leuven tailings projects
SMART
OUTPUTINPUT
Valorisation
Stabili-
sation
EX-SITU treatment
Fresh tailings
Historic tailings
Metal
depleted
tailing
pond
Excavation/
pre-
processing
IN-SITU treatment
Tailings
Tailing
ponds
Oxidic
tailings
Hydro
Leaching
Solvo
Leaching
Bio
Leaching
SMART METAL
EXTRACTION TOOLBOX
Metals in
solution
As
Tl
Cd
Hg
Purification
Valuable
metals
0-10%
Cleaned
mineral
fraction
90-99%
Hazardous
elements
0-5%
Selective
adsorption/
precipitation
Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni
PGM
REE
In, Ge, Ga
Au
Si Mg
Ca
Al
Fe
Ag
Pt
V
Co
Sb
Mg
CaAl
Fe
Si
Sulphate
tailings
Sulphidic
tailings
 Sustainable metal extraction from tailings (hydro, solvo,
bioleaching)
 Submitted on Flemish level, aimed to start on 1 January
2017)

21. Future projects within the tailings
programme
Involvement of
Industry/academia/RTO’s/government/civil
society organizations
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22. Mining
Owner/
Management
of tailing
ponds
Dredging&
Preprocessing
Metal
extraction
Mineral
valorization
Stabilization
of hazardous
components
• Environmental contractors
• Consulting companies
• Engineering firms
• Certification companies
• Waste management companies
Companies within the tailings value chain
• Metallurgical companies
• Soil treatment companies
• Producers of mining & metallurgical chemicals
• Producers of equipment for the mining & metallurgy sector
• Cement & Building material companies
Involvement of industry – a value chain
approach
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23.  Multiple project are in preparation on E.U. level (E.G.
Horizon2020 SC5 projects)
 We are actively looking for case studies in different
regions around the E.U. and partners in industry,
academia, RTO organizations, government and civil
society organizations
Further info:
Lieven.machiels@kuleuven.be
+32494918649