ReMine+ | Positive Impact from Mine Waste

Cobalt Blue’s processing technology provides sustainable solutions for recycling mine waste.

In traditional mining value chains, mine waste such as tailings is considered a liability. Employing circular economy principles redefines the liability into a valuable asset which can be recycled, repurposed or reprocessed.

Our processing know-how allows for value creation from waste with the opportunity to produce metals including cobalt, and elemental sulphur, whilst simultaneously de-sulfidising the remaining material for more positive environmental outcomes.

We are at the forefront of mineral processing innovation, with a vision to apply that innovation to non-traditional opportunities. Our goal is ethically sourced battery metals for a sustainable world. Our approach is to find value in waste, hand-in-hand with nature positive outcomes.

Scale of the mine waste opportunity

Around 10 billion tonnes of tailings material is produced annually around the world. The majority of this material is from metalliferous sulphide mines, particularly copper mines.

Cobalt and other critical minerals commonly occur in association with these primary metals, but are not always extracted.

Instead, decades of traditional mining has resulted in significant accumulations of cobalt and other metals at surface, already crushed, in tailings dams and waste stockpiles all over the globe.

Mine waste and the circular economy

In a circular economy, components are retained at their highest value for as long as possible. In a mining scenario, the composition of tailings and other stockpiles can be examined with the lens that everything has value and use.

Following a traditional linear pattern, deposits are found, mines are commissioned and operated while ore is concentrated, refined and used in the manufacture of a ‘product’. Most circular economy models examine the use, re-use, repair and recycling of that ‘product’. However, the mining and processing stage offers opportunity for re-examination and re-processing of mine waste to enhance efficiency through applied circularity concepts prior to refining and manufacturing.

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Our patented process and mine waste

Pyrite is a common waste product from metalliferous mines, where it is concentrated in the tailings. This is especially true for copper and nickel deposits, with which cobalt is commonly associated. Many mining operations have traditionally focused on one or two primary commodities, ignoring the co-occurring metals that may have had low economic value until recently. Driven by the modern energy transition, those co-occurring metals are more valuable and can be found accumulated in mine waste.

Our patented technology is designed for re-processing pyrite and other sulphides to extract the contained metals, such as cobalt. Given the volumes of pyrite-rich waste generated annually from copper and nickel mines, a significant opportunity exists to re-process that waste for sustainably produced critical minerals.

Positive environmental outcomes

Mine waste, and tailings dams in particular, are an environmental legacy that must be rehabilitated and managed for decades to centuries following mine closure. Metalliferous mine waste is often associated with acid mine drainage, formed from oxidation of sulphur bearing minerals such as pyrite when they are exposed at the earth’s surface. Acid mine drainage can cause significant environmental harm to waterways, landscapes and ecosystems.

Our patented process breaks down pyrite and other sulphides to produce metals such as cobalt, copper and nickel, as well as elemental sulphur and iron oxide. The generation of elemental sulphur means that the remaining material has a significantly lower potential to form sulphuric acid, thus reducing the likelihood of environmental harm through acid mine drainage.

Collaborations

Regeneration

Cobalt Blue Holdings and Regeneration Enterprises signed an MOU in March 2024, agreeing to collaborate on mine waste opportunities for critical metal extraction and positive environmental outcomes.

Regeneration seeks to enable biodiversity, community, and production of climate positive minerals for the energy transition through remining, reprocessing and restoration of old and existing mine sites.

As a global social enterprise, Regeneration is establishing operations in several jurisdictions, including Australia. ‍Rio Tinto is a first, catalytic investor in Regeneration, as well as a site and technology partner.

Hudbay Minerals Inc.

In June 2023, we signed a testwork agreement with Hudbay Minerals Inc (Hudbay) in Canada, to assess the effectiveness of our patented processing technology on the 100 year old tailings dam at Flin Flon, Manitoba.

The tailings facility contains gold, silver, copper, zinc, sulphur and minor cobalt within a pyrite/pyrrhotite concentrate.

Testwork results to date have achieved >90% conversion of pyrite to pyrrhotite + sulphur. An overall flowsheet is now being designed for the final step of testwork.

Queensland Department of Resources and Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland

In December 2021, we executed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Queensland Department of Resources, to participate in the collaborative “Secondary Prospectivity” project funded by the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ), and run by the Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation (MIWATCH) group at the Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland.

The Secondary Prospectivity project aims to fill in a significant data gap, by sampling and characterising mine waste throughout Queensland, thereby highlighting opportunities for critical mineral extraction that may have previously been ignored or unknown. Our involvement offers an alternative to conventional processing of cobalt from pyrite, and demonstrates the applicability of our process across a range of deposits and waste compositions in Queensland.

Presentations

2024
2023

31 October 2024

Re-mining of sulphide tailings for critical-metal extraction and improved environmental outcomes

PDF 5.25MB

25 September 2024

Sulphuric Acid from Mine Waste

PDF 3.4MB

12 September 2024

Cobalt Blue’s Ability to Produce High Purity Sulphur Prill and Sulphuric Acid from Pyrite Feedstocks

PDF 4.42MB

27 August 2024

Pyrite re-processing of critical metal bearing waste for environmental gain

PDF 3.93MB

25 July 2024

ReMine+ Capability Statement 2024

PDF 2.85MB

14 May 2024

Battery metals from mine waste: Our global opportunity

PDF 5.32MB

04 April 2024

COB - Webinar Presentation - Cobalt Blue and Regeneration Partnership to Commercialise Mine Waste Deposits - 4 April 2024

PDF 6.08MB

Project contact

Dr Helen Degeling
Manager, ReMine+

Helen is a geologist with over 18 years’ experience in industry, academia and government. She was instrumental in initiating the Queensland Government’s Circular Economy, Secondary Prospectivity, Traceability and Sustainable Rare Earth Elements (REE) Processing programs.

She is a passionate advocate for the growth and evolution of the minerals sector in line with the demands of a just transition towards decarbonisation and adoption of Environmental, Social and Governance standards globally.

Helen aims to realise the opportunities for green metal extraction from mine waste to support the energy transition through Cobalt Blue’s innovative processing technology and high ethical and operating standards.