Institute of Geotechnics SAS
Topic
Recovery of critical raw materials from primary and secondary resources
PhD. program
Extraction and Processing of Earth Resources / Metallurgy
Year of admission
2024
Name of the supervisor
MVDr. Daniel Kupka, PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling TUKE
Annotation
Extensive metal mining activities performed for centuries in the region of the Spišsko-gemerské Rudohorie (Ore Mountains Mts.) in Slovakia, have left a legacy of numerous old, closed (poly)metallic mines, after the mining industry started to decline in the 1990s. The abandoned mine sites are mostly flooded deep mines, waste-rock piles, tailing impoundments, waste dumps with many seepages/ leachates and mine drainage effluents. High concentrations of toxic elements in such solid and liquid wastes, represent a potential secondary resource of critical raw materials (CRM), in line with the concepts of the circular economy. PhD study will be focused on investigation of methods for selective recovery of critical raw materials from mine drainage water and waste.