Process Mineralogy: An essential booster of the Circular Economy

A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials in urban mines at the end of each service life. By changing the way we view our waste in relation to our urban landscapes we are able to mine – collecting and salvaging – valuable components to be reused and recycled, paving the way towards a zero-landfill future.

Eric Pirard

In order to develop efficient processes for the recovery of metals from both our primary mines and our urban mines, we will need to innovate in process mineralogy and we are pleased to announce that Eric Pirard, professor of Mineral Resources at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Liege, Belgium, will give an overview of the role of predictive and diagnostic tools in mineralogy to achieve a more circular economy in a keynote lecture at next year's Process Mineralogy '17.

Prof. Pirard is head of the GeMMe research group totalling about forty research engineers and PhD students. This group is active in characterisation, processing and beneficiation of mineral materials at any stage of their life cycle. He is also an active member and acts as education officer of the new European Knowledge Innovation Community on raw materials: EIT Raw Materials. This is a consortium of 120 members including major universities, research centres and industries all across Europe. EIT Raw Materials is the spearhead of Europe’s innovation in raw materials and the circular economy with a total budget of close to 3 billion euros to be spent in the period 2015-2022.

Prof. Pirard has extensive experience in teaching mining engineers in less privileged countries such as Bolivia, Peru, DR Congo, etc. He is the coordinator of the European Master in Georesources Engineering degree (EMerald) jointly organized by the Universities of Liege, Nancy, Freiberg and Lulea.

We look forward to this important keynote, which will complement the geometallurgy keynote of Steve Williams.

Nine months prior to these keynotes, Sustainable Minerals '16 in Falmouth will emphasise the crucial role that mineral processing has in contributing to a circular economy, in enabling effective recycling of metals, from WEEE, automobiles and mine wastes.

Twitter @barrywills