Go from Ore to More with Industrial Biotech!
Biotechnology has many potential applications in the mining industry including metal leaching, metal recovery, impurity removal and product upgrading. It is an alternative to the extensive crushing and grinding of traditional methods and it also requires far less energy. For example, bioleaching can be used in remote areas where deposits of metal are small. Another big advantage is that metal can be extracted from low grade ores which are disregarded by the traditional mining industry, making microorganisms the most thorough gold (and other metal) diggers out there.
Europe is the greatest consumer of rare and precious metals in the world. Increasing the efficiency of mining is instrumental to ensuring EU supply chains are protected and that the EU gains raw material independence.
A series of European Commission funded projects are focusing on establishing environmentally friendly biometallurgical processes. FP6 project BioMinE aimed to provide a sustainable alternative to smelting and roasting through biotechnological processes. To further benefit industrial companies, the project consortium carried out an evaluation of this innovative technology through integrated piloting and first economic assessment to facilitate companies’ decision-making process in whether to progress to a demonstration. Similar to BioMinE, the BioShale project concentrates on evaluating the potential for bioprocessing metal-bearing black shale ores. An environmental impact assessment of the industrial exploitation of black shale ores is part of the project objectives in order to enable the safe, clean and viable operation of black shale mining activities. Prospects for green mining do not only interest EU Research and Innovation representatives, German company BRAIN was one of the first industrial biotechnology firms to present alternative solutions for the extraction of rare earth elements in order to “bring back mining” to Germany.