INTRODUCTION TO MIN-NOVATION

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1 SPECIAL EDITION INTRODUCTION TO MIN-NOVATION S MIN-NOVATION stands for the Mining and Mineral Processing Waste Management Innovation Network. The main theme of this project is the management of mining and mineral processing waste, which means that the topics addressed span a very broad range of non-renewable natural resources, from rare earth metals through coal and oil shale as well as all the way to oil. The essential objective in MIN-NOVATION is to create a framework for discussion and action. To accomplish this, each region has set up and runs a MIN-NOVATION regional network (MRN), which has sought to engage stakeholders and make progress on issues of local and regional importance. The present newsletter profiles collaboration efforts in each of the MIN-NOVATION regions, highlighting specific challenges which the MIN-NOVATION partners have already started to address. BALTIC There is also an international dimension to the work of the MRNs, namely the MIN-NOVATION Baltic network (MBN). The MBN looks for common links between regions, and in 2012 will focus on exploring possible crossregional initiatives. The diagram on the right shows the feedback mechanism between the MRNs and the MBN. GOVERNMENT/ AGENCIES MIN-NOVATION BALTIC GOVERNMENT/ AGENCIES SMEs SMEs UNIVERSITIES/ RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES/ RESEARCH THE STATE OF THE MINING WASTE SECTOR IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION The project partnership has completed several Baltic Sea-level activities which help understand and assess the sector. A Baltic SWOT analysis set out what issues are region-specific and which ones are shared amongst 2 or more regions. The Baltic business database, available online via the project website, is a searchable tool which gives a solid statistical overview of the businesses involved in the recovery, recycling and re-use of mining waste and land reclamation. The report on mining waste management reviews the legal, economic and social aspects related to managing waste as a business activity. INNOVATION AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER Since access to innovation is one of the cornerstones of any sustainable sector, the project partners, in particular universities, are actively engaged in looking for ways to bring innovative ideas closer to businesses. A starting point has been the technology compendium, an online survey of state-of-the-art technologies used in practice or being tested by universities and other research organisations. Another is the launching of 4 pilot investments in Sweden, Estonia, Finland and Poland planned for 2012 and 2013.

2 POLAND MINING AND MINERAL WASTE MANAGEMENT SECTOR COOPERATION BASED ON TRIPLE-HELIX MODEL The Min-Novation project encompasses 3 regions located in the southern part of Poland: Ma³opolska, Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia. The mining industry is a critical part of Poland's economy. Currently, deposits of minerals of all groups: energy, metallic, chemical, and industrial are the subject of exploitation. The Min-Novation project's target is mining and processing waste management connected with hard coal extraction (situated in Upper Silesia and Ma³opolska) as well as the copper industry sector (located in Lower Silesia). representatives of scientific institutions and regional/local government. During the MRN meetings, participants identified the most important problems facing the sector, the biggest of which is the legislation concerning mining waste management and the interpretation thereof. The MRN plans to address this issue and come up with recommendations for action in the coming months. According to the regional SWOT analysis carried out as part of the project, the following are the region's strengths: professionals with knowledge and experience in the waste management field, a large number of SME's ready to enter the market of recyclable and reusable waste products and the fact that mining waste ending up in the waste dump is often valuable for the economy and environmental engineering. Another advantage of the region is the relatively well developed cooperation between Large The most common forms of cooperation between mining and SME's are: 1) setting up a daughter company for waste recovery - where the mine is the owner; 2) the mining company entering into an agreement with an SME concerning recovery and then recultivation of a given waste site; 3) setting up an outside business and using the mine site's infrastructure and technology for the recovery of waste. Yet another form of cooperation in the mining waste management sector in Poland involves an agreement between the local commune and the SME's, in the situation where the commune owns an old mining waste dump. The MIN-NOVATION Regional Network has brought together several dozen organisations active in the mining and processing waste management sector and environmental engineering, as well as 1&2 MRN meeting in Kraków AGH University of Science and Technology (Lead Partner) Anna Ostrêga Phone: ostrega@agh.edu.pl Upper Silesian Agency for Entrepreneurship Promotion Alicja Michalik Phone: alicja.michalik@gapp.pl Foundation for Lower Silesian Mineral Resources Cluster Wiktor Kowalczyk Phone: wkowalczyk@minnov.pl

3 SWEDEN HOW CAN EXTRACTION OF MINING WASTE OCCUR IN AREAS DESIGNATED AS INDUSTRIAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES? The Swedish Min-Novation project partners: Örebro Regional Development Council and the University of Örebro have initiated talks with representatives of the Swedish Heritage Board regarding the issues related to extraction of mining waste in areas designated as heritage sites. Swedish legislation on industrial and cultural Heritage designation is hindering extraction in cases where the mining waste has been declared to be produced by ancient techniques and use and which are permanently abandoned. The legal writing and the interpretation has the potential to create conflicts of interest with the increasing demand for raw materials in the world, particularly in light of forecasts and ongoing actions at the EU-level and nationally to map and - possibly in the future - also extract more raw materials from mining waste. Örebro Universitet Mattias Bäckström Phone: mattias.backstrom@oru.se Regionförbundet Örebro Stefan Sädbom Phone: stefan.sadbom@bergskraft.se Regionförbundet Örebro Berndt Arvidsson Phone: berndt.arvidsson@regionorebro.se The Swedish Min-Novation partners have initiated a dialogue with representatives of the National Heritage Board and the Board has started an internal process aiming at a compilation of current practice and interpretations of the legal heritage framework with the purpose to create a basis for future recommendations on how to tackle the current and future situation with regards to mining waste from a heritage perspective. The Swedish Min-Novation partners will continue the talks with the Heritage board on how to proceed, and if possible harmonize the heritage legislation with the future raw material supply and environmental needs to extract valuable minerals from mining waste. Mattias Bäckström examining historical mining waste with Cu, Zn, Pb and As at the Stollberg Mine in Bergslagen, Sweden

4 ESTONIA SELECTIVE OIL SHALE WASTE CRUSHING TESTS IN ESTONIA Oil shale mining is an important industry for the Estonian economy. The oil shale deposit is located in north-east Estonia. The oil shale bed descends 3m per kilometre towards the south. More than 90% of electricity in Estonia is produced from oil shale. The oil shale seam contains interlayered limestone. Limestone is waste rock of oil shale and it is stored in waste rock heaps. To increase oil shale yield, one possibility could be selective crushing. The Tallinn University of Technology team is testing the use of crushing and screening buckets. Oil shale is weaker and can be screened out (left figure) whilst limestone stays on to the screen 5th MRN meeting in Tallinn and can be sorted out (right figure). Oil shale waste crushing test are made with collaboration with mining companies and future benefit is directed to the mining, construction and aggregate production companies. The aim of the MRN meetings is to present ideas and assumptions of the MIN-NOVATION project and give interesting lectures. Lectures are Tallinn University of Technology Veiko Karu Phone: presented by mining companies, machinery companies and research institutions. Crushing oil shale with crushing bucket Limestone separation

5 FINLAND MINING BOOM IS BOUND TO MAKE MINING WASTE INTERESTING ALSO IN FINLAND Kainuun Etu Ltd Hanna Repo Phone: University of Oulu Seppo Gehör Phone:

6 GERMANY MIN-NOVATION AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO FIND NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE RECOVERY OF RESIDUES FROM COPPER MINING AND MANUFACTURING IN MANSFELD SÜDHARZ The closing down of the Mansfeld copper mines and the closely related closure of the smelting plants in 1990 led to a stoppage of any further processing activities of intermediate or waste products from mining and smelting processes. At the present time there is a substantial quantity of potentially exploitable mining and smelting residues with economically meaningful contents of copper, lead, zinc and other precious metals. Mine dump by Horst Zobel Necessary R&D activities geared at developing applicable methods for recovering metals from residues done by universities and colleges were discontinued in the early nineties. The hope is that through the MIN-NOVATION project it will be possible to initiate the development of new methods for an economically efficient recovery of the existing residues. Project partner BdU e.v. in cooperation with the the Technical University of Clausthal-Zellerfeld and experts from the former Mansfeld AG smeltery are working to develop processes for Theissenschlamm deposit by Manfred Kreisel Educational Institution of Employers Association Saxony-Anhalt Manfred Kreisel Björn Kortung Phone: +49 (0) (0) info@gbrkbps.de European Institute for Innovation Stefan Molkentin Phone: s.molkentin@eifi.eu leaching and marketing of metals found in landfilled fine dusts ( Theißenschlamm ) which were produced from past smelting processes. In the Helbra area there are around tons of Theißenschlamm with an estimated content of: to t lead to t zinc and 12 to 24 t silver other precious metals and trace elements. A successful, commercially efficient recovery of mine and smelting plant residues in the Mansfeld region could secure as many as new jobs and lead to a much needed economic revival with all the associated positive community benefits.

7 NORWAY THE OIL INDUSTRY'S WASTE MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE IN MIN-NOVATION Project partner University of Stavanger represents a region of MIN-NOVATION with very substantial oil resources and extensive e x p e r i e n c e i n p e t r o l e u m w a s t e management. It is interesting to note that many cleaning processes adopted by the petroleum industry originally came from the mining sector, but in the last 20 years processes in the petroleum industry have advanced so much that the possibility for their wider application - beyond the oil industry - is worth investigating further. One of the opportunities to address this topic will be the Conference on Petroleum Waste Management, which the University of Stavanger is hosting on April 26th. In the Rogaland region, the project tries to include companies both from the petroleum sector and mining sector as well as related public authorities. By together mapping the possibilities regionally and then comparing with international partners, we follow the aim of the project which is to transfer and utilize knowledge for the benefit of enterprises in the extractive industry. At the University of Stavanger we also combine this work with research-based teaching as both Master thesis and Bachelor thesis work are included in the project process and the collaboration with industry. This provides state of the art knowledge to the involved students and also supplies the industry with employees better informed about waste cleaning issues. University of Stavanger Torleiv Bilstad Jan Frick Phone: torleiv.bilstad@uis.no

8 THE MIN-NOVATION MAP The consortium consists of a total of 11 main partners from 6 countries and 15 associated partners from all three sectors public, private and non-profit. Below is a map showing the location of the MIN-NOVATION regions and main partners. CHAIRMAN OF MIN-NOVATION STEERING COMMITTEE Professor MAREK CA A PhD, Eng. AGH University of Science and Technology Phone: cala@agh.edu.pl CONSORTIUM CONTACT ANNA OSTRÊGA PhD, Eng. AGH University of Science and Technology Phone: ostrega@agh.edu.pl Partnership University of Oulu Örebro Regional Development Council Kainuun Etu Ltd. University of Stavanger University of Örebro Tallinn University of Technology Foundation for Lower Silesian Mineral Resources Cluster European Institute for Innovation Upper Silesian Agency for Enterpreneurship Promotion Educational Institution of Employers Association Saxony- Anhalt AGH University of Science and Technology