About this event
Critical minerals are key to meet the demands of a shift towards renewable energy, such as solar, wind, hydrogen and battery power. Increased supply of minerals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt for battery cathodes; rare earth elements for electric vehicle and wind turbine motors; and gallium, germanium, indium and tellurium for photovoltaics, is needed. The energy transition will result in a shift from hydrocarbon based energy generation to metals and minerals as the raw materials of green energy technologies.
Conventional mined sources of many of these elements are limited or not available, or exist within regions where geopolitics and recent tax laws (being instituted in the UK and the US) are disincentivizing these sources. Unconventional sources such as waste materials from energy generation, mining, milling, and industrial activities are therefore gaining increasing attention.
Site environmental managers and full-value resource logisticians need to be aware of the opportunities and benefits of critical mineral recovery to the life cycle costs of waste liabilities, and costly and lengthy permitting timeframes associated with conventional sources can be avoided through development of unconventional sources.
This Sustainability Delivery Group Expert Talk will focus on critical mineral recovery from waste materials across the UK and the USA. Waste streams such as pulverized fuel ash (UK specific), coal combustion residuals (USA specific), ochre accumulated from mine waters (UK specific) and acid mine drainage precipitates (USA specific) will be highlighted through case studies. The current policy landscape, as well as current incentives, will also be discussed.
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Guest speaker
Jeffrey Gillow Technical Expert - Geochemistry @ ArcadisG
Jeff is a Technical Expert at Arcadis and is based in Denver, CO in the US. He has 35 years of experience as a scientist focused on metals and radionuclides in the environment within the context of natural resource extraction, energy generation, and industrial development. He has consulted for global mining companies on management of their environmental footprint, in terms of water and mine and mill wastes, as well as to heavy industry. Currently he is working to help implement concepts of full-value mining for commercial clients. He holds a PhD from the Colorado School of Mines in Environmental Science and Engineering and prior to consulting was an inorganic chemist with 17 years at the US Department of Energy working to develop innovative environmental restoration technologies.
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Guest speaker
Sarah Hale Principal Consultant @ ArcadisG
Sarah is a Principal Consultant at Arcadis, with over 10 years of experience focusing on the fate and transport of organic and inorganic pollutants in the environment. She has expertise related to site investigation, site restoration and remediation as well as analytical and monitoring techniques. Sarah received her Master of Research from York University and her PhD from Newcastle University before working in Norway for 12 years. She is active at the science-policy interface and understands the value of bringing research solutions to solve real world environmental problems for diverse clients.
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Guest speaker
Emilie Dal Senior Process Chemical Engineer @ ArcadisG
Emilie is a senior chemical engineer at Arcadis who specialises in sites contamination evaluation, remediation designs, effluent treatments methodology. Emilie received her Master in Chemistry from King’s College, University of London. Prior to joining Arcadis, she worked for 16 years in a precious metals refinery in London, leading process development projects and managing the plant’s environmental monitoring plan. During the same site’s decommissioning and demolition project she managed the chemical decontamination of infrastructure, site waste removal and resulting precious metals recovery.
