Smart Exploration consists of a research and application team supported by a group of technologically advanced SMEs and the mining industry. The consortium will firstly focus on developing cost-effective, environmentally-friendly tools and methods for geophysical exploration in highly challenging brownfield areas where exploration expenditure is greater and the return time (from exploration to production) shorter. A second focus point will be long-term greenfield exploration with the aim of reducing exploration costs, implying significant improvement in development rates and a sustainable supply of raw materials at the same rate as the whole world wishes to grow. Therefore, new innovative ideas will also be tested for greenfield exploration to increase the potential of finding new major deposits of relevance to the EU. The overall objectives of the tasks are to develop (1) cost-effective and innovative exploration instruments comprising airborne, surface, downhole and in-mine modular-based geophysical systems, (2) new exploration targets through multidisciplinary and integrated approaches, (3) novel reprocessing and handling of legacy exploration data that will generate additional information and targets for detailed exploration, and (4) validating all these developments, to maximize their impacts, at relevant exploration sites covering greenfield, near-mine and in-mine areas using known targets. We anticipate that these developments will not only generate new technological and methodological markets for the EU, but will also result in improved exploration strategies in the EU and beyond. The nature of the consortium, the partners involved, and the commodities that are considered will result in highly useful exploitation of the developments envisaged in the project and a guarantee of their successful use beyond the project life.

The aim of ITERAMS is to develop a proof of concept for more environmentally friendly and economic mine site operations, in Europe and globally. For that, the ITERAMS project focuses on the isolation of process waters completely from the adjacent water systems. This will require development of new methods for optimising and controlling water qualities at each process step. As a bonus, this will also facilitate the recovery of additional valuable constituents. The ITERAMS project will develop research and dimensioning protocols suitable for use at the mines processing different ores. In this context, validation of the concepts will have an essential role. In the planned project, it will be performed at selected mine sites processing sulphide ores, although the concepts will be generic and thus also suitable for other types of ores like gold, rare earth, and phosphate ores. The closure of water cycles at each process stage will inevitably increase their thermodynamical and kinetic unstability (as is also the case with conventional tailing ponds). In addition, water temperatures will also increase, causing higher bacterial growth, especially for iron and sulphur oxidising species. This will result in a dynamic situation that has never so far been worked on. The ITERAMS project will create new academic and industrial knowledge and capabilities to tackle such questions. The tightly closed water cycles can be realised only if the tailings can be filtered and stacked dry. ITERAMS will demonstrate the use of geopolymerisation to create water and oxygen tight covers on the deposited tailings. For that, the tailings streams will be modified for their easier geopolymerisation. The ITERAMS water and waste efficient methods will be validated at mine sites in Finland, in Portugal and additionally either in Chile or South Africa.

The INTMET approach represents a unique technological breakthrough to overcome the limitations related to difficult low grade and complex ores to achieve high efficient recovery of valuable metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Ag) and CRM (Co, In, Sb). Main objective of INTMET is applying on-site mine-to-metal hydroprocessing of the produced concentrates enhancing substantially raw materials efficiency thanks to increase Cu+Zn+Pb recovery over 60% vs. existing selective flotation. 3 innovative hydrometallurgical processes (atmospheric, pressure and bioleaching), and novel more effective metals extraction techniques (e.g. Cu/Zn-SX-EW, chloride media, MSA, etc) will be developed and tested at relevant environment aiming to maximise metal recovery yield and minimising energy consumption and environmental footprint. Additionally secondary materials like tailings and metallurgical wastes will be tested as well for metals recovery and sulphur valorisation. The technical, environmental and economic feasibility of the entire approaches will be evaluated to ensure a real business solution of the integrated INTMET process. INTMET will be economically viable thanks to diversification of products (Cu, Zn, Pb), high-profitable solution (producing commodities not concentrates), with lower operation and environmental costs (on-site hydroprocessing will avoid transport to smelters) and allowing mine-life extension developing a new business-model concept based on high efficient recovery of complex ores that will ensure EU mining industry competitiveness and employment. INTMET is fully aligned with EIP-RM validated in the PolymetOre Commitment where most of INTMET partners take part on and the market up-take solutions are guaranteed by an exploitation from industrially-driven consortia composed by 3 Mines, 2 SMEs (AGQ -waste&water tech provider; MINPOL -policy & exploitation expert), 2 tech providers (OUTOTEC and TR) and 5 complementary RTD´s with expertise in leaching and recovery metals processing