German-Peruvian Workshop on Research Cooperation on Raw Materials of Strategic Economic Importance

Transcription

1 German-Peruvian Workshop on Research Cooperation on Raw Materials of Strategic Economic Importance Friday, 25 of September 2015 Sonesta Hotel El Olivar

2 Research activities in the field of economical strategic minerals with a special focus on the potential of mining residues and bioleaching German-Peruvian Workshop on Research Cooperation on Raw Materials of Strategic Economic Importance Lima, 25 th September 2015 Volker Steinbach, Head of Department Energy Resources, Mineral Resources Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) 1

3 Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) President Z. Central Affairs 1. Energy Resources, Mineral Resources 2. Groundwater and Soil Science 3. Underground Space for Storage an Economic Use 4. Geoscientific Information, International Cooperation Staff Technical Equipment, Internal Services German Mineral Resources Agency (DERA) Geophysical Exploration Technical Mineralogy Geological-geotechnical Exploration International Cooperation Organisation Budget and Financial Management Geology of Mineral Resources Spatial Data on Groundwater and Soils Geological-geotechnical Site Assessment Geodata, Geological Information, Stratigraphy Procurement, Materials Management Central Information Technology Library, Archive Public Relations, Publications Geology of Energy Resources, Polar Geology Marine Resource Exploration Resource Geochemistry Groundwater Resources Properties and Dynamics of Soils Subsurface Use, Geological CO2 Storage Geological-geotechnical Safety Analyses CTBT, Central Seismological Observatory Geo-Hazard Assessment, Remote Sensing 2 research based - advising the industry and government

4 Security of Raw Material Supply for the Socioeconomic Development; Protection and Sustainable Utilization Implementation Level Decision-making Level, Politics Phase of Evaluation and Recommendations (security of raw material supply, market analyses) Application of Geoscientific Methods (exploration methods, geophysics, geochemistry,...) - Applied and Preliminary Research - Strategic Research 3

5 DERA Criticality assessment: Screening Assessed are the country concentration (HHI) of supply in the commodity markets and the weighted country risk (GLR) of production in terms of potential price and supply risks. The current Study (2014) includes for the first time the assessment of intermediate products of various value chains based on global trade data (HS code). Mine production and refinery production of 34 metals, 27 industrial minerals including coking coal as well as 216 trade products (net exports) were screened. Results are visualised in form of a traffic-light system low risk moderate critical 4

6 DERA Criticality assessment: Detail Risk Analysis Fundamentals for indicators: worldwide coverage (country-based) Future market balance up-to-date market information solid database and data quality Supply and demand trends Current market balance Database: BGR-database commercial databases, e.g. RMG, SNL Net exports + German imports Recycling rate publicly accessible databases, e.g. World Bank, WBMS, Global Trade Atlas Benchmarks: Based on the interpretation of historical data low risk moderate critical Trade restrictions Company concentration (HHI) Country concentration (HHI) + weighted country risk (GLR) 5

7 BGR Long-term Activities Mn nodules (Ni, Cu, Co, Te, Zn, Mo, Li, REE) m Co-rich crusts (Co, Ni, Ti, Te, Pt, Mo) m polymetal. sulfides (Cu, Zn, Ag, Zn, Pb, In, Se, Ge, Bi) m 6

8 BGR Long-term Activities Deep-sea mining of mineral resources chances and challenges of a new field with economic potential 7

9 Platinum group metals oxidized ores PGM are of great need for high-tech applications (catalytic converters, fuel cells, medicine) weathered zone PGM-ores sometimes are weathered up to 40 m from the surface, but: PGE contents of weathered and pristine ores are ± similar Recovery rates of weathered ore are <<50% stockpiled Oxidized PGE-ores have a huge potential e.g. in South Africa: - Bushveld Complex: 330 Mt ore - Main Sulfide Zone: 250 Mt ore Aim of the project: Understanding the mobility of PGE during weathering and optimizing benefication methods 8

10 Interdisciplinary 3D investigations on tailings impoundments Recoverability of raw materials from complex tailings The complexity of the internal structure of tailings is caused by: depositional fractionation of minerals by grain size, density or shape partial weathering affecting minerals, minerals surfaces and texture changes of the source material or mineral treatment techniques Target exploration requires suitable methods to understand : the internal structure due to deposition and alteration the enrichment/depletion processes as well as the mineral surface conditions and mineral assemblages Methods to achieve goals: 2D mineralogical and chemical investigations 2D hyperspectral imaging tomographic geophysical investigations 3D CPT-EDXRF measurements Sampling at Los Ninos tailings (Cu) in Copiapó, Cl EDXRF M4-Tornado element distribution showing texture and a Cu-enriched zone. Sample from Los Ninos, Cl. 9

11 Economic assessment of mining wastes reprocessing Economic potential of mining residues in Peru Over the past 30 years, an some billion tons of residues have been stockpiled, which still contains a residual content of copper, gold, silver, molybdenum and possibly other metals that are of strategic interest for the economy. Goal: Sampling of the Las Luces tailings pond (Cu, Au) in Chile 1. phase: verify the potential of mining residues and to evaluate the profitability of reprocessing and recovery of strategic elements. 2. phase: develop the evaluation methodology in order to increase the degree of certainty for the economic value 10

12 Bioleaching of metal sulfides in mine waste Biomining, the applied geobiotechnology of bioleaching, allows to extract and recover valuable metals from sulfidic ore deposits. An estimate of 15 % of the world copper production originates from bioheapleaching, mainly in Chile. BGR has > 40 years experience in R&D on bioleaching of metals from different ores and residues, e.g. Kupferschiefer, mine tailings, ashes (> 100 scientific publications). R&D in BGR has shown that mine waste dumps and tailings e.g. in Chile and Peru contain significant amounts of valuable metals, which can be extracted via bioleaching. The goal of the planned cooperation is to develop environmental friendly, tailored metal extraction methods for mine waste dumps and tailings based on bioleaching of metal sulfides. Mine waste tailings at Ticapampa in Peru Bioreactor in BGR laboratory 11