The increasing demand for Critical Raw Materials (CRMs), driven by the need to address climate change and meet global needs, is already leading to substantial growth in extractive activities. Ensuring a reliable CRMs supply will require identifying and exploiting new and alternative sources, including CRMs as byproducts of conventional ores and reprocessed extractive waste (EW). Developing smarter, cleaner extraction methodologies for primary and secondary resources will be essential. The extraction of CRMs, from exploration to waste management, has numerous impacts on the environment, including landscape and land use degradation, as well as soil and water contamination, with cascading effects on the biosphere. This results in social and economic challenges and opportunities at various stages of the mining cycle, particularly connected to EW deposits. As a whole, CRM supply must be accompanied by responsible and integrated management throughout the entire value chain.
This session welcomes contributions on the following topics:
- Exploration and extraction of CRMs as primary resources.
- CRM recovery as by-products of common mineral exploitation.
- Revalorization of extractive waste facilities as secondary sources of CRMs.
- Technological innovations for the exploration, extraction, and (re)processing of minerals from primary deposits and EW.
- Technological advancements in sampling and characterization procedures for minerals and EW, aimed at improved resource evaluation and environmental impact assessment.
- Multiscale CRM exploration: innovative sensing technologies, automation, and modeling of primary and secondary resources.
- Environmental aspects of CRM extraction from primary resources.
- Environmental and geotechnical innovations for tackling challenges associated with EW facilities.
- The role of current regulations in driving innovative solutions and fostering responsible production of mined products including the extraction of CRMs.
- Role of economists, social scientists, legal scholars, psychologists, and policymakers in addressing the social and economic challenges of new and reactivated mines to promote a responsible and socially accepted mining sector.
- The role of AI and machine learning across the entire mining life cycle.