Project name:
|
MIN-NOVATION Mining and
Mineral Processing Waste Management Innovation Network
|
3rd
MIN-Novation Baltic Network meeting
November 21
– November 24, 2011
Vuokatti/Finland
Host organization
Kainuun Etu
1.
Welcome and meeting
agenda
Antti Toivanen, CEO of Kainuun Etu Ltd., welcomed the meeting
participants, and spoke briefly about the R&D, industrial and tourist
opportunities available in the Kainuu region.
2.
Guest presentations
– Professor Manuel Regueiro and Harry Sandström
Highlights from Professor Manuel Regueiro’s
presentation:
Ø “Mining is primarily a waste management business”. Improved waste
management can lead to increased profits and project viability in the case of
new developments.
Ø One of the main goals of the EU Raw Materials
Initiative is to enhance the recycling of raw materials and resource efficiency.
Ø The European Technology Platform on Sustainable
Mineral Resources has as one of its target research areas the development of an
industrial network on waste prevention and recycling aimed at turning wastes
into products, including new technological processes for the treatment of
complex waste, such as dust, tailings and residues. The Platform also is
interested in effective approaches to protecting ground and surface water
quality, including novel ways of treating acid mine drainage and recovering
contained metals.
Ø The Innovation Partnership’s 2020 targets include
developing new European-based recycling activities (mostly run by SMEs) and
demonstrating 10 innovative pilot plants for raw materials extraction and
processing and recycling.
Ø The European Technology Platform on Sustainable
Mineral Resources, The Innovation Partnership and the EU Raw Materials
Initiative are guided by the same overarching objective which is to ensure that
the supply of minerals for European industry is secured, both in terms of
domestic extraction and foreign supply.
Highlights from Harry Sandström’s presentation:
Ø Finland’s Green Mining Programme aims to minimise the adverse
impacts of mining, improve the productivity, RDI and know-how in the mining
sector.
Ø The beneficiaries of the Programme are businesses as
well as research organisations
Ø Some of the eligibility criteria include international
R&D partners (for public research projects) and SME involvement (in
business-led projects). Right now, Sweden
and Australia
have been identified as the priority countries cooperating on this Programme.
Ø A 60 mln € budget for 2011-2016, funding available as
grants (businesses and R&D organisations) or as loans (to businesses).
Ø As of September 2011, Finland has 9 metal mines in
operation, 3 metal mines under construction, ca. 30 mines/quarries for
industrial minerals in operation.
Ø Exploration for new mining sites in Finland generated 60,9 mln € in
2010; there were >500 exploration permit applications in September 2011.
Ø Turnover of the mining sector in Finland totalled 1,16 bln €; of
that, 680 mln are metal mines.
3.
MBN meeting - MRN
Meetings
Summaries of the presentations on MRN activities follow:
a.
AGH, UPPER SILESIAN AGENCY FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROMOTION and the FOUNDATION FOR LOWER SILESIAN MINERAL RESOURCES
CLUSTER: Justyna Adamczyk informed
that the 3rd MRN meeting focused on two issues: new technologies and
waste products as a result of public-private cooperation between mining waste
management companies in the region AND the rules and regulations governing the
waste-to-product process. A guest speaker from the Gliwice County
government guided the participants through the tangle of national regulations
on this topic.
b.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF EMPLOYERS ASSOCIATION OF SAXONY-ANHALT (BDU): The
3rd MRN meeting identified 5 potential recyclable residues. Stefan
Kreisel also informed that the participants also agreed that a master plan
for the industrial use of these residues will be drawn up. BDU in another
EU-funded project (ReSource) is pursuing the topic of geothermal usage of
mining waters, and plans to advance this topic in MIN-NOVATION (a geo-thermal
working group has already been created for this purpose during the 1st/2nd
MRN meeting).
c.
TALLINN TECHNICAL
UNIVERSITY held the 3rd MRN
meeting on October 20th. Veiko Karu noted that invited lecturers dealt
with a variety of topics: copper industry waste, chemical analysis of mineral
components and current trends in mining engineering. There was also a
presentation on SANDVIK – crushing and sieving equipment offered by the Actual Baltic
OU company. A discussion ensued about the various options for the pilot project
in Estonia.
d.
KAINUUN ETU and OULU UNIVERSITY: Hanna Repo related the results of
the 3rd/4th MRN meeting (November 9th), which gave
an introduction to R&D in the field of mining waste management, classification
of mining waste and information on the pilot project – the mobile stone and
extractive laboratory unit. It was decided that in January an R&D funding
workshop will be organised which will familiarise businesses with funding
opportunities available in Finland.
The end of 2012 will see a workshop on legal aspects of the mining waste
management business. Prof. Seppo Gehor explained that Oulu University
has carried out background research on the adsorbent properties of a selection
of minerals – this work is done in preparation for the pilot project.
e.
UNIVERSITY OF STAVANGER: Jan Frick
emphasised that key feedback at the MRN has come from large oil companies which
have led the way in developing petroleum waste management solutions. He hopes
that these best practices may be of value in the mining waste sectors in the
MIN-NOVATION regions. Torleiv Bilstad has met with county and national
officials to engage them on the topics dealt with in the MIN-NOVATION project.
f.
UNIVERSITY OF ÖREBRO and ÖREBRO REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: As summarised by Mattias Bäckström, the
3rd MRN meeting took place on October 11th and was
combined with a study trip to a nearby Stråssa Mineral & Makadam AB mine. Alongside
business-unfriendly legislation and the need for cheaper transportation as a
vehicle for more cost-effective mining waste management, the participants
identified specific tasks to get done: 1. more comprehensive information on
waste deposit (content, value etc.) 2. more publicity among businesses on the
importance of characterising waste prior to use. 3. more publicity targeting
local authorities with the message that not all mine waste is detrimental to
health and environment.
4.
MBN meeting - SME database
Veiko Karu presented an overview of the planned Baltic
SME database. Data has been gathered thus far for 570 mining waste management
businesses from the 6 MIN-NOVATION countries. Veiko presented the type of
outputs that the final database could offer (table on web; PDF outputs on web;
interactive database).
5.
MBN meeting - Work
Package 4
Mattias Bäckström outlined the tasks to be
completed in WP4. The work package officially began in October 2011 and will go
on until December 2012. Mattias focused on the first task – compendium on
mining waste management. Each partner needs to start gathering information on
the waste streams, processing methods, product types and customer categories
for the businesses involved in the MRN and those in the region. Within two
weeks Mattias will send templates to gathering those information. Another
necessary step to make the compendium a reality is to make a preliminary
inventory of the type of mineral waste present in the region (volume, content
etc.). Finally a literature review and references. Mattias provided a sample
waste inventory and categorisation in his presentation.
6.
MBN meeting -
Communications
Piotr Szmigielski gave an overview of select communication
issues.
7.
Project Steering
Committee – Introduction
Professor Marek Cała chaired
the Project Steering Committee and announced the agenda. Professor Marek Cała reviewed the financial and essential progress of
each of the partners.
8.
Next meeting
The next project meeting will take place in Stavanger, Norway
on April 25-27 and will be hosted by the University of Stavanger.
9.
Meeting adjournment
The project meeting was
concluded on Tuesday evening, and followed by tours on Wednesday of the Mobile
Laboratory Unit of Kajak, the Centre for Measurement
and Information Systems (CEMIS) and the Talvivaara Mining
Company.
Photos from MBN meeting in Finland:
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MIN-NOVATION Mining and Mineral Processing Waste Management Innovation Network
http://mi.ttu.ee/min-novation/
