AN ALTERNATIVE MINING CONCEPT

AN ALTERNATIVE MINING CONCEPT

An Alternative Mining Concept Raw Materials Commitment in TECHNOLOGY PILLAR I.B Priority Area: Technologies for primary and secondary raw materials production Action area n I.3: Innovative extraction of raw materials Jean-Jacques Royer, University of Nancy, CNRS, France Jolanta Dmowska, KGHM Kupfer AG, Germany European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials Annual Conference, 5th December 2013; Brussels Slide 2 18/11/2013

Concept Monitoring Drilling Fracking Stimulation Enhancing + p In-Situ Leaching Bio-Oxidation Processes BIOMOre A New Mining Concept for Extracting Metals from Deep Ore Deposits Slide 3 18/11/2013

Alternative Enhanced Solution Mining Ferroplasma sp. Bacteria At. caldus Slide 4 18/11/2013

There are Still Huge Mineral Resources in Europe! 1. FP7 EU-funded ProMine project has demonstrated huge potential reserves in Cu, Zn, Rh, Ni at depth greater than 1,500m in Central Europe (Poland & Germany). 2. It has also been shown (Bio-Shale FP6) that bioleaching can be used effectively to extract metals from Kupferschiefer deposits (Poland) 3. The BioMOre project objectives are to extract metal from deep mineralized zone in Europe (Poland-Germany) by coupling solution mining & bioleaching technologies Slide 5 18/11/2013 Copper and Zinc Zones in Deep Metal Deposits

Estimated Value of European Kupferschiefer Deposits Metal Value Cu (in G ) Ag (in G ) Re (in G ) Total (in G ) Known deposits 152 128 1.1 281 Potential > 10kg/m 2 775 290 648 240 5.5 2.1 1,428 533 Potential 2-10kg/m 2 1,840 1,445 1,540 1210 13.1 10.1 3,393 2,662 Total 2,767 1,735 2,316 1,450 19.6 12.3 5,103 3,196 Assuming: Cu price at 7,500$/t Cu; Ag price at 890$/kg; Re price at 4,100$/kg. Slide 6 18/11/2013

Concepts Applied to Deep Deposits Doublet = two deviated and parallel wells One: injection well, second: production well which runs pregnant solution with (Cu, Co, Ni, Zn) and other metals Hot solution can be used as energy source Slide 7 18/11/2013

Projected Scenario for in situ Bioleaching of Ore Deposit Slide 8 18/11/2013

Benefits of Enhanced Stimulation of Bio Mining Benefits Drawbacks Turn into accessible commodities mineralization at depths greater than 1,500m (Temperatures : 50º- 60ºC) Avoid huge amount of in-situ mining wastes, tailings, and dirty ponds reducing the environmental impacts and improving chances for public acceptance Possibility to extract metals such as Cu, Zn, Ni, Co (from sulphides) by circulating solutions at depth At depth greater than 1,500m under a salt layer, water preservation is not an issue Bioleaching is a slow extraction technique which can be compensated by the amount of fluid circulating Bacteria may be sensitive to some toxins present in the ore (As, Sb, Ag, Se) which could impact bioleaching performances (though they can adapt, as in gold ore bio-processing with high As content in the ore) At present, some metals (such as Au, Ag, Pt, PGE) are difficult to be recovered by bacteria but further researches on new bacteria could changed rapidly this situation Innovative methods that will benefit the European economy and the mining industry Slide 9 18/11/2013

WORK PACKAGES WP1: Monitoring, prefeasibility studies, risk assessment WP2: Site selection, under ground 3&4 modeling, geological & geophysical data integration WP3: Well design, exploration, core drilling wells and sampling Injection well stimulation WP4: Biotechnology, optimizing bioleaching chemistry and stimulating processes WP5: Metal production, hydro-metallury aspects WP6: Environmental impact and sustainability assessment, site closure post operation in situ safe-guarding, green mining aspects WP7: Exploitation, dissemina-tion, training & education, promoting, public relations WP8: Management Slide 10 18/11/2013

Possible Partners Provisory coordinator: CNRS (F) or MIRO (UK)) Bangor University for biological aspects & Warwick University for bio-leaching (UK) Kemakta (Sweden) Cracow AGH Univ. geological settings & Wrocław Uni. of Technology - for hydrometallurgy (PL) KGHM PM SA & KGHM Kupfer AG (DE) IMN Gliwice hydrometallurgy (PL) United Oil Fields Services drilling and fracturing (PL) Local stakeholders or NGO? GEOS and DMT (DE) selection of the site, monitoring GTK / Outotec / Pyhäsalmi Mine (Fi) Selor (NL) CNRS & University of Lorraine (GeoRessources) for hydraulic fracturing modelling and ultra pulsed field stimulation aspects Falcon Oil & Gas for hydraulic fracking technology (HU) Slide 11 18/11/2013

Possible Partners Potential Partners BRGM bio-leaching (FR)? CSRI (Australia)? Hatch (Canada)? Slide 12 18/11/2013

Conclusions If successful, this innovative technology will be very promising for exploiting several critical raw materials in Europe. It includes porphyry deposits (Cu, Au, Mo), copper shale (Kupferschiefer) (Cu, REE, PGE, Re, Pb, Cu, Pt, Au), epithermal deposits, hydrothermal deposits including gold. Because this technology does not required deep mining (gallery, underground infrastructures) and generates no tailings, it is expected cheaper than traditional mining operations and more acceptable by the public. A Green Mining Project Slide 13 18/11/2013

THANKS! Slide 14 18/11/2013