Recovery of critical and other raw materials from mining waste and landfills State of play on existing practices Blengini, G.A.; Mathieux, F.; Mancini, L.; Nyberg, M.; Viegas, H.M. (Editors) 2019 EUR 29744 EN This publication is a Science for Policy report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process. The scientific output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use that might be made of this publication. Contact information Name: Fabrice Mathieux Address: Joint Research Centre, Via E. Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, ITALY Email: [email protected] Tel.: +39 332789238 EU Science Hub https://ec.europa.eu/jrc JRC116131 EUR 29744 EN PDF ISBN 978-92-76-03391-2 ISSN 1831-9424 doi:10.2760/494020 Print ISBN 978-92-76-03415-5 ISSN 1018-5593 doi:10.2760/700398 Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2019 © European Union, 2019 The reuse policy of the European Commission is implemented by Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39). Reuse is authorised provided that the source of the document is acknowledged and its original meaning or message is not distorted. The European Commission shall not be liable for any consequence stemming from the reuse. For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not owned by the EU, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holders. All content © European Union 2019 How to cite this report: Blengini, G.A.; Mathieux, F., Mancini, L.; Nyberg, M.; Viegas, H.M. (Editors); Salminen, J.; Garbarino, E.; Orveillon, G.; Saveyn, H.; Mateos Aquilino, V.; Llorens González, T.; García Polonio, F.; Horckmans, L.; D'Hugues, P.; Balomenos, E.; Dino, G.; de la Feld, M.; Mádai, F.; Földessy, J.; Mucsi, G.; Gombkötő, I.; Calleja,I. Recovery of critical and other raw materials from mining waste and landfills: State of play on existing practices, EUR 29744 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2019, ISBN 978-92-76-03391-2, doi:10.2760/494020, JRC116131. Contents List of contributors ............................................................................................. 4 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Critical raw materials ................................................................................... 8 1.2 Circular economy ....................................................................................... 10 1.3 Key actors in the EU ................................................................................... 14 2 Relevant EU policy measures ............................................................................ 16 2.1 Waste Framework Directive ........................................................................ 16 2.2 Extractive Waste Directive and the Reference Document on BAT...................... 16 2.3 Landfill Directive ........................................................................................ 18 2.4 Horizon 2020 ............................................................................................ 18 2.5 EIT Raw Materials ...................................................................................... 23 3 Best Available Techniques for the Management of Waste from Extractive Industries . 28 3.1 MWEI BREF and recovery of critical and other raw materials ........................... 28 3.2 Generic BAT applicable to the recovery of critical and other raw materials ........ 29 3.2.1 Recovery of extractive waste ............................................................... 29 3.2.2 Prevention and reduction of extractive waste generation ......................... 30 3.2.3 Corporate management ...................................................................... 30 3.2.4 Data and information management ...................................................... 30 3.3 Risk-specific BAT applicable to the recovery of critical and other raw materials .. 31 3.3.1 Design for closure .............................................................................. 31 3.3.2 Geotechnical analysis and monitoring of the structural stability ............... 32 3.3.3 Physico-chemical stability of extractive waste ........................................ 32 3.3.4 Groundwater and soil pollution remediation ........................................... 34 3.3.5 Monitoring of emissions to soil, water and air ........................................ 34 4 Knowledge base needs and sources ................................................................... 35 4.1 The EU Raw Materials Information System .................................................... 35 4.2 Overview of the knowledge base from current practices.................................. 39 5 Framework conditions and monitoring tools ........................................................ 42 5.1 Monitoring progress: the EU Raw Materials Scoreboard .................................. 42 5.2 Summary on framework conditions from relevant projects .............................. 43 6 Overview of the potential of recovery from landfill and extractive waste ................. 45 6.1 Extractive waste ........................................................................................ 45 6.2 Landfill ..................................................................................................... 47 6.3 Overview on existing practices: focus on technologies .................................... 50 7 Existing practices for recovery of critical raw materials and other raw materials ...... 55 7.1 Recovery of Tantalum and Niobium from tailings of the old Penouta mine ......... 55 i 7.2 Recovery of CRMs and valuable metals from inorganic industrial waste streams 69 7.3 Biohydrometallurgy for treatment of low grade resources: the Kasese site, Uganda 79 7.4 Bauxite Residue as a resource in Europe ....................................................... 85 7.5 Smart Ground database and protocols for data collection ................................ 91 7.6 CriticEL - Raw Material National Survey in Hungary ...................................... 106 8 Conclusions and outlook ................................................................................. 116 List of abbreviations and definitions ..................................................................... 120 List of figures .................................................................................................... 123 List of tables ..................................................................................................... 125 ii Abstract The transition to a more circular economy is essential to develop a sustainable, low carbon, resource efficient, and competitive economy in the EU. In such a context, Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) are those with a particularly high importance to the EU economy and, at the same time, with a high risk of supply disruptions. First and foremost, improving the circular use of CRMs is a key strategy in improving the security of supply and not surprisingly is an objective of various policies. This report delivers on action #39 of the Circular Economy Action Plan: "Sharing of best practice for the recovery of critical raw materials from mining waste and landfills". It builds on discussions held during two 2018 workshops and gathers together six examples of existing practices for the recovery of critical, precious, and other materials from extractive waste and landfills, highlighting technological innovations and contributions to a more comprehensive knowledge-base on raw materials. The report also provides various estimates of potential recovery of certain materials compared to their current demand. Lessons learnt from the practices include awareness that it is very unlikely that recovery processes can target one or just a few specific materials of great interest and disregard other elements or bulk matrixes. Especially in case of very low concentrations, most of the mineral resources and other bulk materials in which they are embedded must be valorised in order to increase economic viability and minimise waste disposal. As recovery processes can be very energy intensive, environmental and land use related aspects are also particularly relevant in that environmental gains may also occur and, moreover, land space can be liberated and reused for new purposes and services. Finally, availability of data and information on secondary materials as well as a harmonised legislative framework within the EU appear to be crucial for the large-scale deployment of recovery practices. 3 Acknowledgements Editors would like to thank Magnus Gislev (European Commission) for proposing the idea of this report, Christian Wimmer, Jose Jorge Diaz Del Castillo, Daniel Cios, Milan Grohol and Konstantinos Georgitzikis (European Commission) for reviewing the report, Špela Bavec (Geološki zavod Slovenije, Slovenia) and Manuel Vázquez Mora (Junta de Andalucía, Spain) for inputs to the report. List of contributors This report has been edited by Gian Andrea Blengini, Fabrice Mathieux, Lucia Mancini (JRC Ispra - Land Resources Unit), Maria Nyberg, and Helena Viegas (DG GROW Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials Unit). The following authors have contributed to the preparation