Sumex

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Knowledge repository

Your open access to knowledge on how to change the extractive sector towards sustainability. Navigate through the industry- and policy practices, training materials, reports, and much more.

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Practice base
In situ bioleaching (ISL) process

Introduction of a practice not currently used in Europe (ISL) to mine deep copper deposits while also reducing environmental and social impacts.

Knowledge base
National policies for hydraulic fracturing

ISL (in situ leaching) requires hydraulic fracturing, which has known risks: Triggering of seismic events, selection and use of large amounts of chemicals, disposal of large amounts of wastewater, large number of drilling sites, potentially high methane emissions, etc.

Practice base
Global industry standard on tailings management

This practice addresses the industry standard on tailings management as the ultimate industry goal is to achieve zero harm to people and the environment. To achieve these goals, operators need to guarantee the safety of tailing facilities and disclose relevant information for public accountability.

Knowledge base
BIOMOre Stress Tests

Mines or waste management facilities can be confronted with extreme conditions and events. What precautions can be taken to be adequately prepared for such events?

Practice base
A practical guide to consistent water reporting

This practice addresses consistent water reporting due to its standard as fundamentally critical resource in industries, communities and for the natural environment. In particular in water stressed areas, water depended industries are facing increasingly intense scrutiny. One of the affected industries is the mining and metals industry considering its high water dependency.

Knowledge base
South Australia's and the US's in situ leaching legislation

As in situ leaching (ISL) does not yet exist in Europe, South Australia's and the US's legislation provides good practices that could be introduced to Europe.

Practice base
ICMM's integrated mine closure

ICMM's Integrated mine closure: good practice guide offers guidance to members and other mining companies with the aim of promoting a disciplined approach to integrated closure planning and increasing the uniformity of best practices. As with the previous version, guidance is provided on critical aspects of mine closure through an iterative process, beginning with knowledge gathering, engagement and planning.

Practice base
Measures in legislation to provide safety protection from stimulated in situ bioleaching

Legislation must include specific measures related to in situ bioleaching to ensure environmental, health and safety protection.

Knowledge base
Building resilience in the mining and metals industry

This practice addresses the construction of resilience in the mining and metals industry. A changing climate will have a wide range of implications for the mining and metals sector. Extreme weather events and long-term changes in climate patterns will impact fixed assets and disrupt supply chains. Members of the ICMM are concerned with water management, facilities with long lifespans for which design criteria may include climate-related assumptions, as well as how climate change may impact closures and closure processes

Practice base
Good practice guidance on occupational health risk assessment

This practice addresses the need for guidance on occupational health risk assessment. A healthy workforce is key to the success of mining and metals companies, and ICMM company members are driven to protect the health and well-being of workers and local communities by ICMM's Sustainable Development Principle 5. Workforce protection must address 'zero harm' - ensuring an environment in the workplace that fosters the recognition of occupational illnesses as preventable.

Knowledge base
Financial guarantees for proper closure of In Situ Leaching operations

The lack of financial guarantees for proper closure in the event of bankruptcy.

Practice base
Archived open-access exploration information

To ensure available high quality geological information

Practice base
Recycled water by Tailing Thickening

The practice is addressing the process of tailing thickening to enhance the reusage of water at the process plant. If this practice is not used, the water consumption of the power plant causes high costs, water scarcity for the surrounding areas and water loss from evaporation. By implementing a tailing thickening stage at the power plant and reusing water such problems could be immensely decreased. Drakelands Mine was mentioned as an example.

Practice base
Active support mechanism for use of geological data

The need to have a support mechanism and inclusion of expertise for using geological data.

Practice base
Geological data and land use planning

Using geological data in land use planning.

Practice base
Map of Potentially Exploitable Resources

To inform authorities of which geological resources are avaiilable in their territory by defining the varieties of exploitable resources and their locations.

Practice base
Determining Workers at Risk

Outlining the types of workplace monitoring and control considered best practice across the Platinum Group Metals (PGM) industry

Knowledge base
Stakeholder Frames for the Social License to Operate

To better understand what issues are key to address across Europe to build Social License to Operate. Frame 1: The Company Works with the Local Community / Frame 2: Mining is Accepted and Contributes to Society / Frame 3: Social License to Operate Grounded in Effective Legislation and Regulation / Frame 4: Local Self-Determination and Partnerships / Frame 5: Self-Governing Industry

Practice base
Waste Management by Dry Stacking

This waste management strategy is used to store filtered tailings which reduces the environmental footprint but brings additional operational and transportation costs.

Knowledge base
Planning the participatory process

The first step of an effective stakeholder involvement is to plan the purpose and the process of participation. The plan covers the roles and activities of people included in the process.

Knowledge base
Who are important stakeholders and how to involve them

The practice helps policy planners and representatives of industry first, to identify stakeholders and second, it provides useful tools for grouping the stakeholders according to their roles.

Practice base
National/Regional guidance on incorporating the Mineral deposits of public importance concept and qualifying conditions

The practice provides guidance on how to incorporate the concept of Mineral Deposits of Public Importance (MDoPI) into national/regional/EU minerals and land-use planning policy frameworks. The document analyses good practices in the field of minerals policy from different regions in Europe and provides recommendations for further improvement of those practices.

Knowledge base
TOWARDS A EUROPEAN VISION FOR MINERAL DEPOSITS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE (MDOPI) IN EUROPE

The document presents improvements to the current means of strategic management of mineral raw materials across EU member states. It suggests improvements to existing policy commitments and approaches, and recommends the European Commission to encourage member states to implement the Mineral Deposits of Public Importance (MDoPI) framework and enable MDoPI to contribute to the sustainable development goals.

Practice base
Stakeholder Mapping and Stakeholder Frames

Understanding who the stakeholders are for a project tends to be based on what people do; however, people's opinions and their decisions are largely influenced by personal values. The development of the Stakeholder Frames is intended to supplement traditional stakeholder mapping by introducing what people value when they consider granting a Social License to Operate.

Practice base
Recycling of Neodymium (NdFeB) magnets

NdFeB magnets need to be separated from hard disc drives and other equipment to enable further processing and several new pre-treatment options have recently been developed by private companies

Practice base
CEWASTE Assurance and Verification system (general purpose)

While there are existing normative requirements to enable CRM (critical raw materials) recycling and ensure it is done sustainably, only if operators of WEEE (Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and batteries waste facilities comply with them will they make a difference.

Practice base
Assurance system to ensure the conformity with CEWASTE requirements

To ensure the conformity of facilities with CEWASTE requirements.

Practice base
Establishing the World Forum on Raw Materials

There is a need to structurally improve international cooperation and for improved raw materials governance at the global level.

Knowledge base
Baseline mapping of existing initiatives on raw materials

The need for a structured approach to identify and group existing initiatives, data availability and relevant stakeholders

Practice base
SET OF QUALIFYING CONDITIONS FOR A HARMONISED MAPPING FRAMEWORK (HMF) FOR EACH TYPE OF MINERAL

The report proposes detailed criteria to identify and describe Mineral Deposits of Public Importance (MDoPI). It does so by analysing the current methods for identifying MDoPIs in Austria, Sweden, Poland and Portugal, and based on the learnings, proposes improved methods which are described in detail in this document. The report also proposes criteria which would need to be applied in the EU Member states in order to delineate MDoPIs. The detailed criteria cover the following dimensions: Geological Knowledge, Technical and Economic, Competing Land Use, and Societal. The proposed method is then applied to Poland as an experiment case study.

Practice base
Communication and interaction between companies and local communities

The practice is addressing the need for communication between local actors and company stakeholders in order to obtain and maintain a Social License to Operate. It is further a good approach to prevent any sort of conflict regarding mineral exploration.

Practice base
State of the art of artificial intelligence in mining and milling industry

Intelligent systems which have emerged from the field of Artificial Intelligence are currently being reviewed as software tools for mining companies to deal with the pressure of globalization and environmental standards. The use of intelligent technologies has been integrated well into the mining industry in form of algorithms, artificial networks and agent-based softwares.

Practice base
United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC)

The United Nations Framework Classification for Resources as practice is tackling the lack of harmonised data at European level. This practice is not meant to replace national systems but rather to add it rather thought of as central point for EU level compilation.

Practice base
Passive seismic tomography using surface-wave extraction

The practice is addressing the relatively new technique that uses recorded seismic noises in order to improve exploration efficiency at depth. In contrast to active seismic methods, the passive seismic approach is cheaper, less environmentally destructive and more efficient method. The passive method using surface wave extraction has been used to for regional tomographic imaging to provide information on near-surface geological structures at a local scale.

Practice base
Advanced Mine Monitoring Control, Operation and Safety System for Small Scale Mines

The current challenge in mining sector is that companies use many different systems, platforms and technologies, and it is difficult to integrate a new technology into such a diverse system. In addition, sometimes SMEs find it difficult to commit to technological implementations. Small to medium scale enterprises (SME) are competing with global companies that can lower their production costs by introducing larger machineries into operation. Real-Time-Mining aims to enhance information flow along SMEs’ planning and production activities and introduces a new Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to enhance SMEs’ competitiveness in the mining sector. The first part of the report presents the necessity of introducing a middleware to allow cross-manufacturer integration of mining technology into superordinate systems in an economical manner. The second part presents the technical realisation of physical and logical data transmission and gives a brief introduction to the technical background of SCADA systems.

Practice base
Stakeholder Engagement Protocol

The practice introduces a Stakeholder Engagement Protocol which is meant to help with establishment of close day-to-day working connections to potential future customers, collaborators or investors of UNEXMIN project’s final product and UNEXMIN technology.

Practice base
Electric vehicles – Rechargeable batteries and electric traction motors

Rechargeable batteries and electric traction motors are affecting the future demand of critical raw materials. Li-ion batteries will not satisfy the needs for the increasing demand for higher energy density and power density batteries. Therefore, solid-state batteries with solid electrolytes are considered to be an emerging technology due to improving safety and high power density and energy. Electric traction motors are the other key component of EVs. Many EVs employ rare earth permanent magnet to achieve high performance. NdFeB based permanent magnet is the most commercially important permanent magnet.

Practice base
Concrete recycling in France

This practice addresses a method to deal with construction and demolition waste, which is one of the heaviest and most voluminous waste streams generated. The production of cement requires a big amount of energy, releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide and is an irreversible process which is required to produce concrete. This approach focuses on recycled concrete aggregates which can be used for structural concrete applications.

Practice base
Recycling of end-of-life batteries from electric vehicles

The practice is addressing the increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries. The manufacturing of these batteries requires raw materials which face supply risks. The focus of this practice lies on the recycling of of the lithium-ion batteries at the end of their life cycle to recover raw materials.

Practice base
Training modules to co-create materials with local communities

The ILUCIDARE Training Modules brings together research and the needs for clear and easy understandable co-creation material.

Knowledge base
GUIDANCE NOTES FOR EXPLORATION BEST PRACTICE

The aim of the document is to share best practices for mineral exploration activities. The practices will consider socioeconomic and environmental aspects as well as the newest technology. The practices defined will then be implemented to the project reference sites in Spain, Germany and Finland.

Practice base
THE INFACT SOCIAL LICENSE TO OPERATE INDEX MODEL

The practice presents an index model, which measures the likelihood of achieving a social licence to operate of mineral exploration and mining projects. To achieve and maintain the Social License to Operate there must be mutual understanding and trust between the project, local communities and governance structures.The Social License to Operate index provides the mining professionals with a tool to measure their Social License to Operate building and to identify potential risks along the way.

Knowledge base
ITERAMS final cluster workshop and policy recommendations

The practice provides policy and operational level recommendations to support the improvement of sustainability assessment and Social Licence to operate activities in the European extractives industry.

Practice base
A roadmap towards monitoring the physical economy

MinFuture roadmap provides recommendations for monitoring of the physical economy, which is considered to be crucial for improving our capacity for forecasting and scenario development in the fields of, for example, climate change and progress towards circular economy. Moving towards monitoring systems at company, national, regional, EU and global levels is important for achieving the sustainable development goals and securing long-term supply of raw materials.

Practice base
Innovative Waste Management and Mine Closure

This deliverable presents waste management and mine closure innovations taken up in different EU member states and on EU level. It also examines how the innovations have been facilitated by policies and legislation. Furthermore, future development recommendations for waste management and mine closure are presented.

Practice base
Raw Material Intelligence (RMI) framework

To determine the extent actual RMI has been used in the formulation of minerals policies and which methods and tools can be used

Practice base
Raw Materials Intelligence (RMI) Platform

A more coherent minerals policy across Europe, including at the EU level.

Practice base
PEST (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological) Analysis Template

PEST is a tool which helps to understand background factors which may affect or influence the operational environment of projects and looks at political, economic, socio-cultural and technological conditions to give an overview of the region of interest.

Practice base
Regional approaches to the Social License to Operate

This tool addresses Social License to Operate approaches used across Europe as there is no universally accepted definition of Social License to Operate. The Social License to Operate will also look different in two places because it always depends on the given context.

Practice base
Checklist for First Meetings Between Community-Company

The practice aims to support companies in approaching communities when starting a new project in a new area by providing a checklist to consider all relevant aspects when organizing a first meeting between the company and other stakeholders and the community.