Metal recovery from secondary raw materials – the importance of mineralogical characterization and processing methods: Commemorative lecture on receiving the Georg Agricola Medal

Mineral raw materials from geogenic deposits end up as waste after extraction, processing and use. However, if these wastes are regarded as anthropogenic ores, the cycle can be closed if their contents are returned to the product cycle. From the perspective of a geoscientist with knowledge of the formation of deposits and the formation of mineral phases with the corresponding concentration of valuable carriers, there are opportunities to develop efficient recycling systems in adapted technological process chains.

The interplay between the findings on the formation of natural ores and the geochemical modeling of the processes, for example, with the knowledge of thermodynamic models in metallurgy, offers the option of saving even the previously unrecoverable proportion of “spice metals”. The interplay of mineralogical characterization, mechanical processing and the further processing of concentrates in metallurgical processes can achieve what is known as the “engineering of artificial minerals”.

However, mineralogical analysis not only provides the basis for understanding the structure of the material to be processed in cases where slags are specifically influenced and processed as anthropogenic magmas, but also along the entire range of waste streams from mining tailings to electronic scrap. Liberation and sorting as well as subsequent chemical processes are based on this.

The conference contribution aims to present a small kaleidoscope of experience from around 40 years of dealing with various legacies from production and consumption.