Compilation of Mining Waste Databases to Prioritize Site Study for Metal Recovery. Perspectives.

In a global context of growing raw materials scarcity, the Valodem project, conducted by the French Geological Survey (BRGM) aimed identifying national mining wastes that could possibly be reprocessed to recover metallic commodities (base- but also strategic or critical metals). To achieve this goal, French data on mining wastes have been compiled from various databases, and analyzed to identify most interesting mining wastes and evaluate their potential for reprocessing. Twelve waste deposits were selected for further capitalisation of data and one for sampling, analyses and pilot operation. The present paper briefly presents the methodology, results and perspectives of this work, at both national and European levels.