Integrated Multidisciplinary Approach for the Identification and Recovery of Raw Materials from Mining Waste, by Remote Sensing

This project is part of the call for Joint Research Projects within the framework of Italy-Argentina Bilateral Cooperation Programs through the MAECI (Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale) and the MINCyT (Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación) for Italy and Argentina respectively. The objective is to work on the satellite classification of mining waste, and then carry out a mycophytoextraction with subsequent hydrometallurgy to recover the metals of interest from biomass. The sites under study include mines in Italy (Montevecchio, Sulcis Iglesiente, Sardinia), Argentina (Paramillos de Uspallata, Mendoza and Los Cóndores, Merlo, San Luis), Morocco (Sidi Bou Azzouz, Marrakech) and India (Joda West, Odisha) Public and private entities with extractive activity intervene in this project, which need to recover critical materials at the same time as they restore the property where they carry out their activity, for which the project contemplates the scaling up for the application of the procedure in the territory. This concept of use, reuse, recovery and reduction of waste is part of a circular economy model that includes environmental, economic and geopolitical factors. To date, two exchanges have been carried out, one from Argentina to Italy with a visit to the Montevecchio mine site in Sardinia, and another from Italy to Argentina with visits to the Los Cóndores San Luis mine and to the Complejo Minero San Rafael.