DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRATED MULTIDISCIPLINARY STRATEGY FOR GALLIUM, IRON AND MANGANESE RECOVERY FROM MINING RESIDUES IN A CONTEXT OF CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Mining activities produce an impressive amount of wastes and various environmental problems associated with their disposal. However, in the last years, raw materials (RMs) from mining activities have been under consideration in order to exploit valuable minerals/elements through innovative technological approaches. For that reason, it is urgent to develop environmental friendly strategies of management and planning. Within this framework, we evaluated an integrated multidisciplinary strategy for characterization of mining wastes and recovery of secondary (e.g., Fe, Mn) and critical (e.g., Ga) raw materials produced in a Fe and Mn mine (Joda West, Odisha, India) by a phyto-mycoremediation system based on the relationship between Helianthus annuus and the AM fungus Rhizophagus intraradices, volcanic ashes and a catalyst compound.