Flexible and Mobile Economic Processing Technologies

ended

FAME aims to increase the competitiveness of the mining of European mineral resources and to stimulate more private engagement and investment and thus business development with the potential to maintain and create high quality jobs within the EU28. The focus and a principal aim is to enhance mineral processing and mining skills within Europe. A medium to long term aim is to reduce the reliance of European Industry and consumers on raw materials that currently have to be imported from outside EU28. FAME will contribute to the more efficient exploitation of European domestic mineral resources including previously undeveloped resources that have the potential to contribute to the securing of raw material supply by optimising the extraction and processing of ores that include raw materials critical to the economic development of the EU (“critical raw materials”, CRM) and which occur in widespread deposits across the EU. This project specifically addresses primary ore deposits with skarn, pegmatite and greisen ores as they offer the most promising potential for this purpose. This proposal will consider the flexibility (and to an extent the mobility) of the processing concept, in particular, by ensuring the modularity of individual project components. FAME will consider flexible and modular processing technology demonstrated in relevant operational environments (industrially relevant environments in the case of key enabling technologies (TRL). TRL6 is envisaged feasible for processing of pegmatites, whereas TRL5 is considered more realistic for other types of ore body. The consortium has 17 partners from 7 European countries and includes industry, academia and governmental institutions. The consortium has a strong industrial background and involves strategically important reference deposits operated or/and accessible to the project partners and, additionally, associated partners within the EU28 nations and Greenland.