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The 42-month project has been granted EUR 5 million to establish a sustainable, responsible, and decarbonized value chain for REEs through innovative and environmentally friendly technologies. Coordinated by the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), this HEU Research and Innovation Action brings together a consortium of 11 partners from 10 different countries.
Project Overview
- Project title and Acronym: Unlocking the Supply of Rare Earth Elements in Europe Through Responsible, Sustainable and Decarbonised Innovative Technologies (REESOURCE)
- Project period: 2023-2027
The Horizon Europe Project "REESOURCE" aims to unlock the supply of Rare Earth Elements in Europe through responsible, sustainable, and decarbonized innovative technologies. With a focus on minimizing environmental impact fostering a circular economy in the mineral exploitation, and boosting the social acceptance towards mineral extraction activities, REESOURCE is set to reshape the future of European mining.
The Horizon Europe Project "REESOURCE" aims to unlock the supply of Rare Earth Elements in Europe through responsible, sustainable, and decarbonized innovative technologies. With a focus on minimizing environmental impact fostering a circular economy in the mineral exploitation, and boosting the social acceptance towards mineral extraction activities, REESOURCE is set to reshape the future of European mining.
Our vision
Rare Earth Elements are vital for Europe's economy and green political agenda, making the REESOUCE project a crucial step towards achieving self-sufficiency in REEs. The initiative addresses the growing demand for key materials essential for the green and digital transitions, with a focus on ensuring responsible supply while minimizing socioenvironmental impact and reducing CO2 emissions. REESOURCE will establish a sustainable and decarbonized value chain basis for the mine-to permanent magnets industry in Europe.
Why is that important?
This decade, our success in reducing greenhouse gas emissions will determine whether global temperature rise can be limited to 1.5°C or even 2°C. Within this timeframe, the only realistic option available is a considerable scale-up of renewable energy and efficiency solutions.
In a scenario that meets the Paris Agreement goals, clean energy technologies’ share of total demand rises significantly over the next two decades to over 40% REEs.
As the demand for clean energy technologies rises, urgent measures are needed to curb emissions from mineral production. While the environmental benefits of clean energy remain evident, it's crucial to strengthen and fortify resilient supply chains, particularly for critical minerals. Mining companies play a pivotal role in driving the clean energy transition, emphasizing the need for robust strategies to ensure sustainability and emission reduction in this crucial sector.
The REEESOURCE solutions
The overarching goal of REESOURCE is to develop a new European mining concept for Rare Earth Elements (REE) resources capable of meeting a significant portion of future European demand for decades. The project introduces environmentally friendly exploitation methods, targeting zero waste mining and setting new standards for mineral exploitation. The project targets the Fen Deposit, located in Southern Norway, but its outcomes will be of broader applicability and can be extended to many other European mines.
REESOURCE acts as a pioneer, creating a scalable model that can be adopted by future EU initiatives, fostering the accelerated development of European projects and the supply of critical raw materials.
The project is setting the following objectives:
- Fostering “Invisible Mining”: Advancing raise mining technologies to minimize environmental impact and substantially reduce the CO2 emissions per ton of extracted material.
- Environmentally Friendly Formulations for Mineral Beneficiation: Crafting innovative formulations with eco-friendly chemicals to enhance mineral recovery and purify the process water for reuse in the same mining site.
- Tailings Stabilization: Introducing a novel stabilization technique for tailings based on geopolymerization, making them suitable for backfilling and eliminating the need for tailing ponds.
- Circular Economy Approach for Tailings and Process Water: Valorizing tailings through a Circular Economy approach, creating geopolymers for construction applications and composite materials for catalytic and CO2 capture applications. Besides, the team will develop water treatment methods to enhance the recirculation of process water, minimizing the use of this precious natural resource.
- Social Dimension: Evaluating the social impact to ensure early awareness, engagement, and acceptance within the communities where the mineral extraction activities are performed.
- Collaborative Impact Amplification: Positioning and multiplying the project's impact through cross-fertilization with other EU projects and clusters, supporting the mass adoption of UNFC and UNRMS in the raw materials sector.
“REESOURCE has been built up based on competence, dialogue and close cooperation between the partners. REESOURCE brings an unparalleled opportunity to develop and tailor specific mining technology for sustainable operations in a real case scenario, the Fen complex, one of the largest European REE deposits. Given that the site is not being exploited yet, and that it can represent a game-changing strategic mine for Europe, this initiative requires a large variety of expertise and view angles. The project starts from a good understanding of the partners’ roles, tasks and responsibilities and all of them have actively contributed to shaping the activities of REESOURCE,” says Carlos Escudero, Head of EU Affairs at IFE, and Coordinator of this European Project.
The launch of REESOURCE marks a pivotal moment in Europe's commitment to responsible, sustainable, and decarbonized mineral extraction. As the project progresses, it is expected to set the stage for a greener and more self-sufficient future in the mining industry, providing a blueprint for similar initiatives globally.
REESOURCE Partners
For media inquiries and further information, please contact our Project Coordinator, Carlos Escudero: Carlos.Escudero@ife.no
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