The Project
About the Project
XTRACT seeks to introduce the novel concept of the Zero Emission Mine of the Future, developing and validating innovative microinvasive technologies for sustainable and decarbonised extraction. XTRACT will add a highly innovative new alternative to the toolbox of how stockpiles and tailings are assessed, relieving the pressure on resources and contributing to the realization of EU Climate Neutrality Goals, with a significant benefit of emission reduction. XTRACT will introduce low-TRL green technologies of phytoextraction and phytoremediation, particularly appropriate for mining waste piles and abandoned sites that represent a solution for mine waste remediation but also for the for the extraction and recovery of various precious metals.
Work Package List
WP1, WP2 : Project Management v1, v2
- To coordinate the technological and scientific orientation of the project, to ensure the delivery of the project on time
and within the budget and that the project maintains its relevance towards the objectives - To guarantee high-quality standards at all levels and to guarantee the accomplishment of the objectives
- To manage resources, monitor the overall project performance and manage risks, ethics, and contingencies
- To establish appropriate relationships and communication channels with the funding actors as well as between
consortium partners - To effectively monitor & coordinate the issues related to Ethics stemming from the technologies to be employed in the
project, to establish and coordinate of XTRACT Advisory Board
WP3 : Understanding the stage of raw materials extraction and resource recovery
- To develop a central operating culture for the XTRACT Ecosystem conforming the Look-understand-act philosophy
- To address how mining, bioeconomy, Communities, and Volunteers should be engaged and empowered into playing
a more active role in improving the overall mining industry understanding - To investigate current practices used in mining and raw material extraction and evaluate them if they are able to deal with a holistic approach in all phases of mining and raw material extraction
- To understand and specify functional and not functional requirements in Extraction and waste management
- To understand and specify functional and not functional Requirements in mining digitization
- To provide the XTRACT use case design
- To provide the XTRACT system architecture
WP4, WP5 : XTRACT Resource recovery and waste assessment framework v1, v2
- To provide a novel geophysical-electromagnetic system for practical drone-based resource characterization and subsequent extraction
- To apply Ground- and space-borne remote sensing technologies for the identification of the tailings exploitation potential
- To utilise in situ bioleaching and membrane filtration to achieve strategic metal extraction
- To build a novel nanofiltration for the removal of toxic metal ions in context of wastewater treatment and desalination
- To introduce novel concepts of phytoextraction and bioremediation in metal contaminated areas
- To design and develop a novel muon borehole technology for the identification of density distributions in miningrelated waste rock stockpiles
WP6, WP7 : XTRACT Mine 4.0 digital framework v1, v2
- To develop a Cyber physical system that will improve operational drilling efficiency
- To optimise the drilling energy performance model by utilising data from existing “measure-while-drilling”
- To provide systems for high accuracy drill alignment, optimization of ore recovery and ore body detection using “measure-while-drilling”
- To optimize automated drone navigation for hard-to-reach areas mapping
- To scale existing UAVs prototypes to support XTRACT indoor and outdoor mining applications
- To build a UNFC – compliant tailings inventory
- To build the Open Data Standards, XTRACT Social Digital infrastructure and XTRACT Data management system
WP8 : XTRACT Ecosystem and services validation and integrative sustainability assessment
- To provide an initial assess and smooth operation in order to test components configuration and to monitor usage of
modules without preventing access to resources - To create the XTRACT Use Cases Validation Plan, knowledge model and evaluation methodology
- To define the XTRACT Use Cases
- To conduct the XTRACT Validation Test Campaigns
- To validate the XTRACT Ecosystem capabilities and benefits to all mining related stakeholders
- To assess the impact of the XTRACT Ecosystem in supporting resource recovery and raw material extraction related policies and measures
- To define the indicators for the socio-economic sustainability of the XTRACT results
- To combine knowledge and proven technology with existing tools into the overall XTRACT holistic mining
- To build XTRACT circularity signature for resource recovery and raw material extraction for achieving a clear Carbon foot printing
WP9, WP10 : Market shaping, scale-up business models and socio-economic impact & XTRACT outreach and awareness generation v1, v2
- To conduct a market analysis aiming to identify key success factors (KSF) and ensure the competitive advantage of the XTRACT Platform and digital solutions
- To provide an objective cost-benefit analysis of XTRACT and develop a Knowledge Repository within the XTRACT Platform to assist the business modelling effort
- To elaborate a robust business plan aiming towards the successful standardisation and commercialisation of the XTRACT Platform and its digital solutions in a global market, identifying viable business models aiming to deliver cost-effective products
- To define and implement a communication strategy and plan for soundly promoting the progress and outputs of XTRACT, streamlining awareness and take-up of the XTRACT solutions within an active and structured network of stakeholders
- To develop an impactful brand identity and communication tools for targeted promotion taking into consideration the XTRACT objectives, the pilots’ objectives and the target audiences specifics
- To ensure communities engagement for broadening project’s acceptance/endorsement and participation of its influencers to the uptake of projects results
- To coordinate the scientific outreach through open access publications and participation in well-known events
- To measure and monitor the effectiveness of the engagement, response and impact of dissemination, communication and standardisation activities
- To support the large-scale deployment, piloting and adoption of the XTRACT Ecosystem across Europe
- To enable synergies between Horizon Europe, H2020 and other research, innovation and competitiveness-related Union programmes
Approach
XTRACT project aims to develop a sustainable ecosystem for the innovative resource recovery and complex ore extraction. XTRACT targets the reduction of ore losses and mining waste, through a novel system for the control of the ore loss and dilution, reducing overall mine emissions and economic loss. The trend towards declining orebody grades and continued development of the pursuit of existing operation to exploit lower grade deposits is likely to continue, in the absence of high-grade project discovery. XTRACT will develop and validate innovative microinvasive technologies and solutions to extract high-tech elements from minerals and wastes, specifically tailored to remote, “hard-to-reach” locations and small quantities, where extraction is unprofitable. The in-situ bioleaching process and membrane treatment will be applied and optimized with the aim to achieve enhanced microbial activity, catalyst production, and therefore, maximum metal recovery from the source.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement no. 101138432
© 2023 XTRACT PROJECT | Designed by Acceligence Ltd.