On 16 March 2023 the EC published the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) setting “benchmarks along the strategic raw materials value chain and for the diversification of EU supplies”. By targeting the domestic processing and refining of lithium – arguably “the most strategic CRM”– LITHOS directly contributes to the 1st and 2nd CRMA benchmarks (10% domestic extraction; 40% domestic processing). LITHOS processes and refines the ores from three “Strategic Projects” in terms of domestic battery-grade LiOH·H2O production: two spodumene-bearing pegmatite cases (Keliber’s deposits in the Kaustinen region, Finland; Savannah’s Barroso Lithium Project, Portugal) and one Rare-Metal Granite (RMG) case (Imerys’ Beauvoir mine in France). LITHOS expands and tailors the existing Keliber & M:O flowsheet, which was developed for regular-grade spodumene ores, so that (1) the cut-off grade for spodumene ores is reduced, resulting in larger Li reserves, while (2) allowing the commercialisation of lower-grade pegmatite and RMG deposits. LITHOS triggers innovations along the value chain – mineral processing, concentrate pre-treatment & hydrometallurgical refining – making it possible to deal with different levels and types of impurities in non-spodumene Li minerals (lepidolite & petalite). LITHOS gives specific attention to closed-loop water systems in the mineral processing (KPI: 90% less water consumption). The overall CO2 emissions of the LITHOS flowsheet will be 50% lower than today’s benchmark (production of spodumene concentrate in Australia & refining in China). This work is enriched by bespoke thermodynamic modelling and digital twins. Supported by FMG & Euromines, LITHOS intends to replicate the LITHOS “responsible mining and refining” concept to the other 24 identified Li-hard-rock deposits in Europe. LITHOS’s meta-objective is to unleash Europe’s full Li-hard-rock ore potential (total: 8.8 Mt Li2O) so as to become self-sufficient by 2030–35 in terms of made-in-Europe LiOH·H2O.

MaDiTraCe’s main goal is to enlarge and integrate the portfolio of technological solutions reinforcing the reliability of critical raw material (CRM) tracking and the transparency of complex supply chains. The project aims to develop and test independent digital and geo-based approaches for CRM traceability and to integrate them with a generic certification scheme for CRMs throughout mineral supply chains from the mine to the manufactured and recycled products. The project intends to increase the TRL of experimental or largely untested methods in both domains, digital and material sciences. A special attention will be payed to the complexity of mineral supply chains with points of material aggregation and of transformation (processing, refining…) including circular economy (recycling). This methodology will enable downstream industrials to prove the reliability of their sustainability claims, complying with regulation in force (notably EU Battery regulation, German Supply Chain Act) and anticipating implementation of regulation to come (EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence). MaDiTraCe’s fundament is a strong stakeholder process (WP1) with upstream and downstream industrials from mining to manufacturing industry and large networks involved via the consortia (EIT-RM) and clusters (ISMC) participating in the project. Continuous interaction with this industrial and policy-oriented stakeholder community on the traceability technology (WP2 and WP3) and the certification schemes (WP4) developed in the project will ensure to stay in line with industrial needs and expectations with respect to regulatory compliance. It will also facilitate implementation and exploitation (WP5) of the project outcomes.

Global Manganese-alloys (Mn) are highly linked to the steel sector for key engineering applications in Europe. In 2017, Mn-alloy production was approx. 4 Mio tons, required 12,200 GWh electrical energy and emitted around 14.2 Mio tons of CO2. Therefore, an energy intensive and inherent cross-sectorial value chain that is, nowadays, led by the Asian market demand. PREMA is an ambitious initiative that aims at demonstrating an innovative suite of technologies (involving heat recovery and solar technologic approaches) that allow to pre-treat Mn ores, utilising more efficiently energy and material streams and decreasing direct and indirect CO2 emissions (along with SO2 and NOx). LCA and LCCA methodologies will be implemented from early stages to ensure the technical, economic and environmental viability of the solution across the whole Mn-alloys’ value chain. The vision of PREMA is thus to make the Mn-alloys sector in Europe more flexible, sustainable and attractive. In order to cover the whole value chain, there is a strong presence of South African (SA) partners in the consortium, SA being the top 1 in high quality Mn ores’ extraction and exports worldwide. A win-win situation in order to strengthen the Mn-alloys and steel value chains in Europe. PREMA consortium puts together a total of 11 production facilities spread over Europe and SA among 4 Mn producers, representing an aggregated process capacity of 380 MW (Transalloys in SA, Eramet in France and Norway, Ferroglobe in Norway and Spain and OFZ in Slovakia). The innovative character of the project is brought by major players in R&D across Europe and SA, with the Norwegian organisation SINTEF as coordinator. Last but not least, clustering with other EU initiatives, including other SPIRE projects, will be paid special attention in order to create awareness of the project developments from early stages of the demonstration.

SUPREME aims at optimizing powder metallurgy processes throughout the supply chain. It will focus on a combination of fast-growing industrial production routes and advanced ferrous and non-ferrous metals. By offering more integrated, flexible and sustainable processes for powders manufacturing and metallic parts fabrication, SUPREME enables the reduction of the raw material resources (minerals, metal powder, gas and water) losses while improving energy efficiency, production rate and CO2 emissions, into sustainable processes and towards a circular economy. To achieve this goal, an ambitious cross-sectorial integration and optimization has been designed between several powder metallurgy processes: gas and water atomization as well as ball milling for metal powder production, additive manufacturing and near-net shape technologies for end-parts fabrication. Quality and process control will be developed to monitor KPI, based on eco-innovation approach, to demonstrate the optimization of material and energy use. 4 demonstrators will be proposed at each step of the value chain in real industrial setting and ready for business exploitation at TRL 7: mineral concentration, metal powder manufacturing, metal part manufacturing and end-product that will validate a global optimization of more than 25% on material yield losses, more than 10% on energy efficiency, more than 10% on production rate and beyond 30% of CO2 emissions. SUPREME has gathered an outstanding consortium of 17 partners from 8 countries, represented by 11 companies including 6 SMEs that will ensure a successful implementation towards market applications. 5 applications sectors are targeted: automotive, aeronautics, cutting tools, molding tools and medical. The process key differentiation advantages will bring modularity, flexibility and sustainability to powder metallurgy and will reduce the total cost breakdown of these technologies, boosting their adoption by industry.

ROTATE's ambition is to tap the full potential of minerals extraction and processing in a sustainable and ecological way, developing the needed technologies and tools for achieving zero emissions and pollution for essential and critical raw materials obtention and ensuring a circular approach by implementing mechanisms for waste valorisation in the context of industrial symbiosis, especially reusing waste as aggregates for the construction sector and also recovering secondary products. ROTATE'S GENERAL OBJECTIVE is to achieve a near zero emissions and pollution obtention of raw materials, providing new tools for the mining industry in its journey to a more sustainable and green mineral extraction. The solutions proposed in the project will allow to improve the cut-off grade while reducing the environmental footprint of the whole process. The pilot demonstrations in mineral deposits with different paragenetic (minerals occurring together in a rock, formed by the same genetic process during the same stage) profiles will ensure the replication of the technologies to a wide variety of mining sites. To ensure EU?s lead on Critical Raw Materials access, the project is structured in three main interconnected PILLARS providing technical solutions and three transversal FLOORS covering cross cutting issues, including clustering and social acceptance. A series of technical Project Results of Pillars [PRP] and Project Results of Floors [PRF] will be delivered within the ROTATE's framework. ROTATE's will deliver specific methods and/or technologies aiming to overcome the reluctance of social agents to the exploitation of CRM deposits thanks to the environmental impact reduction achieved. This will result in an increase of the CRM sites that could be exploited in a future, boosting the access of EU to strategic CRM and enabling the development of the Renewables, e-mobility and Defence & Space sectors.