Project description
Extracting vanadium and titanium from Europe’s low-grade deposits
The European Commission’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRM Act) addresses the need for Europe to reduce its reliance on the supply of CRM from third countries, in favour of sustainable domestic extraction when possible. Meanwhile, Europe has untapped low-grade deposits of two CRMs: vanadium and titanium. These have not been exploited due to complexities in their mineral structure that require costly extraction and selective blasting methods. To address this, the EU-funded AVANTIS project aims to develop an innovative blasting approach capable of freeing specific minerals during the blasting stage, while reducing energy consumption during the crushing and grinding stages. It will also design water-free and water-lean pre-concentration technologies to significantly reduce water consumption.
Objective
The EC’s Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Act sets multiple benchmarks for reducing Europe’s dependency on a few unlike-minded third countries for strategic/critical raw materials. Through the domestic extraction of two CRMs – “vanadium” (V) and “titanium metal” (Ti metal) – AVANTIS addresses the first target of the Act (> 10% domestic extraction, for V & Ti). AVANTIS’ rationale lies in the fact that Europe has a multitude of unexploited, low-grade V-bearing titanomagnetite deposits in Finland, Sweden, Greenland, Norway, Poland, Ukraine… However, these deposits have a complex “spiderweb-like” mineral assemblage. Without selective blasting, selective fragmentation and pre-concentration technologies to separate the Ti-rich ilmenite grains from the V-bearing magnetite, it is uneconomic to exploit these deposits. Supported by a bespoke forensic geometallurgy approach, AVANTIS develops a novel selective blasting approach that allows for rock excavation in view of increased mineral liberation at the blasting stage, and reduced energy demand in the crushing & grinding stages. Likewise, AVANTIS designs tailored, water-free and water-lean pre-concentration technologies that allow to produce two distinct pre-concentrates ((1) ilmenite-rich, Ti-pre-concentrate and (2) ilmenite-free, V-pre-concentrate). The water-lean method is also tailored to process V/Ti-bearing mining wastes from historical/on-going operations. The resulting flowsheets have a low net water consumption (> 70% water recycling) and reduced GHG intensity of extraction (reduction of 60–700 g CO2,eq per t ore hauled to the crushing plant). A preliminary analysis of the potential European reserves that are unlocked, yields a total of 154 Mt Ti & 3.5 Mt V (still excluding Ukraine), to be compared with current levels of EU consumption (1.5 Mt/y Ti; 12.7 kt/y V). AVANTIS strengthens the “responsible mining in Europe”-paradigm, increasing society’s trust in domestic CRM production.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry transition metals
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.2.4 - Digital, Industry and Space
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.2.4.4 - Advanced Materials
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL4-2023-RESILIENCE-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 LEUVEN
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.