XTRACT
Project Information
Title: A Sustainable Ecosystem for the Innovative Resource Recovery and Complex Ore Extraction
Funded under: Horizon Europe
Overall budget: € 4 995 636.59
Home page: xtract-project.eu
Role of TUC indigo team
• Resource recovery and waste assessment
• Environmental and social sustainability of XTRACT technological solutions
• Carbon foot-printing and circularity signature of XTRACT technological solutions
Project Description
XTRACT seeks to introduce the novel concept of the Zero Emission Mine of the Future, which aims to minimise GHG emissions through process changes and innovative technologies for sustainable and decarbonised extraction. The XTRACT technological pathways to a lower mining emission future address well-identified emission-intensive points of the current mining value chain. XTRACT will address the Discovery and Exploration Stage of the Mining Cycle. Tailings generated and stockpiled during mining have become an obstacle to developing a low-carbon and green economy. The resource utilisation of tailings will relieve the pressure on resources and contribute to the realisation of EU Climate Neutrality Goals, with a significant benefit of emission reduction. XTRACT will add a highly innovative new alternative to the toolbox of how stockpiles and tailings are assessed, leading to more accurate resource estimates, better process design, improved waste management, more accurate financial planning, and improved safety. XTRACT will scale and deploy remote sensing systems and analytical resources to allow the systematic and remote monitoring of “hard-to-access” mining sites and waste deposits and wide-range, deep resistivity mapping. Additionally, XTRACT targets the reduction of ore losses and mining waste through a novel system for the real-time control of the ore loss and dilution, using Measure-While-Drilling (MWD) automation and thus, reducing overall mine emissions intensity per unit of ore and economic loss.
