From mineral processing to waste management and recycling: common challenges and needs for innovation in France

The world’s population is constantly growing, the global standard of living is increasing, urbanisation is developing on all continents and both the digital transformation and the necessary energy transition are underway. These different “societal phenomena” have in common that they exponentially increase the need for raw materials (metals and other minerals). For example, the demand for certain strategic metals for manufacturing batteries required for electric mobility and the energy transition is expected to explode. According to the recent raw material score board (2021) from the European commission, the lithium demand will increase by a factor of 20 in 2030; an increase by 5 is expected for cobalt. Projections for copper use show that consumption in the next 25 years will be higher than the total cumulative consumption since the Copper Age (during the Neolithic). To meet these supply challenges whilst respecting the major sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations, it is necessary to improve the resource efficiency, meaning using the Earth’s limited resources in a sustainable manner whilst minimising impacts on the environment: delivering greater value with less input. In other words, R&D action must help to improve the environmental and societal efficiency of extractive activities, to optimise the use of metals and materials throughout their life cycle by reducing losses, and finally to set up recycling processes as part of a circular economy. The shift from a linear to a circular economy is imperative to ensure that the economic growth is not only based on the use of natural resources. In Europe, the “circular economy package” (http:// data. europa. eu/ eli/ dir/ 2018/ 851/ oj) and, in France, the “circular economy roadmap” (FREC) (https:// www. ecolo giquesolid aire. gouv. fr/ feuil lerouteecono miecircu lairefrec) support this transition. In order to reduce the pressure on natural resources, and in particular the production of metals and materials from primary deposits (mines and quarries), many secondary resources or resources derived from recycling have been identified and integrated into supply chains (mining waste or tailing, waste and scraps from the industry and in particular the metallurgy industry, end-of-life products). However, it will be impossible to answer the needs from this secondary supply because of the demand growth, the inevitable losses of materials at all stages of their life cycle and the length of time they remain locked in the anthroposphere (Labbé 2016). From a technical and scientific point of view, there are many commonalities in the issues related to the valorisation of these different mineral raw materials. Whether primary (mine), secondary (tailing and industrial waste and scraps) or end of life products (urban mines), these resources are all complex, multielement solids requiring a reduction in particle size (powdering), separation to concentrate the recoverable fractions and finally extractive metallurgy (for metals) to ensure their recovery and reuse. Correctly characterising complex polymetallic objects, limiting energy and water consumption and inputs, minimising the production of secondary waste (liquid effluents or solid residues), adding economic value to by-products and reducing emissions into the environment are major common challenges to overcome in order to ensure an efficient treatment of all these different mineral resources, throughout their life cycle. The objective of this paper is not only to show the common challenges faced by ore and waste treatment technologies but also to highlight some specific innovation needs associated with each resources depending of their origin (primary secondary end of life).