News
– Over three years, this European project has developed a system to treat contact water from the Aznalcóllar mine (Seville) to recover rare earth elements and metals such as copper, cobalt, and zinc
– The project results were shared at the closing event, which brought together industry professionals, representatives from technological and academic centers, and members of the public administration
The European REECOVERY project, which over three years has developed and validated a system for recovering critical raw materials such as rare earths, copper, cobalt, and zinc from contact water in the mining industry, held its final event yesterday in Aznalcóllar (Seville) to share its key results.
During the event, it was explained that for every cubic meter of water treated in the project’s pilot plant, located at the Aznalcóllar mine—managed by Minera los Frailes—more than one kilogram of metal sulfides such as copper, cobalt, and zinc has been recovered, as well as 70 grams of rare earth oxalates. Additionally, 70% of the water used during the various stages of the technology has been regenerated for reuse.
The materials recovered during the project are essential for developing low- carbon emission technologies such as electric cars or wind turbines, but they are not produced within our continent. Therefore, they must be imported from external countries, which involves high costs, trade dependency, and an environmentally unsustainable import process.
The REECOVERY project has managed to reduce this dependency while promoting the circular economy by treating acidic contact waters from former mining-related environmental liabilities or from processes within the mining activity itself, which are traditionally considered waste.
In this regard, Miguel Ángel González, Operations Director at Minera Los Frailes, states that “this is a model project with great application potential that has succeeded in recovering valuable by-products while also repurposing former mining sites, creating a significant positive economic and environmental impact.”
REECOVERY is part of the European EIT RawMaterials program and is led by Minera los Frailes, with the participation of Cetaqua-Centro Tecnológico del Agua, Aquambiente Circular Economy Solutions, part of Veolia group, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and Łukasiewicz-Institute of Non Ferrous Metals (IMN).
During the closing event, attendees from the mining, technological, and academic sectors, as well as from public administration, were able to witness firsthand the real-scale technology developed, which consists of three distinct units. In the first unit, metal sulfides are recovered through a biological process with hydrogen sulfide; in the second, rare earth oxalates are recovered using ion exchange technology; and in the third, the water used in the previous stages is regenerated.
Edxon Licon, Project Manager at Cetaqua-Water Technology Center and REECOVERY, highlighted the technical advantages of the technology used: “The innovative technology employed in this project has allowed us to obtain materials of sufficient quality to be commercialised. Additionally, it can be used to recover valuable materials found in the water of other industries such as petrochemicals or food production. Therefore, the potential is enormous.”
As a result, REECOVERY is expected to have a significant impact on raw material recovery in the coming years, thereby contributing to a more sustainable and independent Europe in securing strategic resources for its development.
Visit the REECOVERY website and take a virtual tour of its pilot plant.
The views expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
