Webinar time (EEST / GMT+3):
Day 1: 9:00—14:30, Day 2: 9:00—15:10, 25-26 November 2025
Water usage in mining is highly intensive, and the associated costs can be a significant barrier to the economic viability of mining projects, which are not limited to arid regions. As the industry increasingly turns to lower-grade ores, water demand grows, which puts further stress on local water bodies and communities. Consequently, finding solutions for responsible water usage in mining operations is driven by the increasing environmental and socioeconomic challenges and risks associated with water and tailings management. Improving water recyclability and /or exploring waterless processing require new approaches.
Tailings and waste rocks pose significant environmental pollution risks to soil and water systems, particularly those generated in the past when the concept of sustainable mining was not yet fully developed. Developments from this perspective include cost-effective and efficient methods for managing mining waste throughout the mine's life cycle, pretreatment of final tailings before disposal, integrating geophysical, geochemical, and hydrological studies.
On the other hand, shifting the approach from risk mitigation to resource valorisation and a circular economy, new developments are focusing on the recovery of potentially valuable commodities (including CRMs) from tailings as "secondary raw materials"; exploring tailings as precursor materials for geopolymers, and carbonation of tailings, CO2-conscious materials for construction.
The themes of the webinar include:
- Water management in mining industry & best practices
- Mine water, impacts, treatment and management
- Tailings life-cycle operations and management
- Tailings as secondary source for raw materials, incl. CRMs
- Tailings, geopolymers, carbonation, construction materials
- Side-stream and circular economy strategies
This event is funded by US Department of States/US Bureau of Energy Resources and co-organized by Horizon Europe projects named AVANTIS, EXCEED, MINE.IO.
PROGRAMME:
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MINEARC Webinar 3: Water, Tailings, and Circular Economy |
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Time: Tue 25.11.2025 - Wed 26.11.2025 (EEST / GMT+3): |
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Venue location: Online |
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25.11.2025 |
Day 1 Program |
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9:00 - 9:10 |
Opening of Webinar - Day 1 |
Prof. Saija Luukkanen |
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9:10 - 9:20 |
Connecting the dots for a Circular Mine - Water, Tailings and Circular Economy strategies in Mining |
Raul Mollehuara-Canales |
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9:20 - 9:30 |
icebreaker session |
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9:30-10:30 |
Theme 1. Water management in mining industry & Best practices |
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9:30-9:45 |
The Digital Waters Flagship |
Pekka Rossi |
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9:45-10:00 |
Water management in mining by enhanced passive evaporation |
Rowe Michels |
10:00-10:15 |
Assessing water quality in mining - from discrete samples to fullscale simulations |
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10:15-10:30 |
Field-Proven Innovations in Mine Water and Tailings Monitoring: From AI Flow Measurement to Amphibious Bathymetry Robots |
Mohamed Gad |
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10:30-10:40 |
Coffee break |
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10:40-12:00 |
Theme 2. Mine water, impacts, treatment and management |
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10:40-10:55 |
EPSE: Innovative water solutions in mining applications |
Steve Evans |
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10:55-11:10 |
Mining tailings and water - for value |
Tomi Ravattinen |
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11:10-11:25 |
A new technology for high saline water: a brief introduction to extracting water from highly saline slurries using internal evaporation |
Claudio Acuña |
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11:25-11:40 |
Innovative solutions for mine waste water treatment and resource recovery |
Mika Mahosenaho |
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11:40-12:00 |
Discussion on theme 1 & theme 2 |
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12:00-13:00 |
Lunch break |
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13:00-14:30 |
Theme 3. Tailings life-cycle operations and management |
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13:00-13:15 |
Tailings Source Effects on Paste Backfill Characteristics |
Erol Yilmaz |
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13:15-13:30 |
Reclamation of sterile rock piles generated by copper ore mining and assessment of the ongoing soil formation process. |
Petar Petrov & Veneta Stefanova |
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13:30-13:45 |
Reagent Optimization as a Tool for Tailings Management and Circular Economy. |
Lasse Moilanen |
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13:45-14:00 |
Use of ternary diagrams - mineralogical and geotechnical characterizations of flotation tailings to optimize water recovery from thickening stage and securing tailings deposit stability. |
Marco Vera |
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14:00-14:20 |
Discussion on theme 3 |
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14:20-14:30 |
closing of day 1 |
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26.11.2025 |
Day 2 Program |
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9:00 - 9:10 |
Opening of Webinar - Day 2 |
Prof. Saija Luukkanen |
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9:10 - 9:20 |
icebreaker session |
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9:20-12:00 |
Theme 4. Tailings as secondary source for raw materials, incl CRMs |
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9:20-9:35 |
Conceptual Geochemical Models for Tailings Reprocessing and Risk Mitigation: Examples from Queensland, Australia |
Mansour Edraki |
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9:35-9:50 |
Recovery of critical raw materials from tailings and other secondary sources in metallurgucal industry. |
Sami Virolainen |
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9:50-10:05 |
Re-evaluating Mining Residues: Challenges and Resource Opportunities |
Sara Kasmaee |
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10:05-10:20 |
Economic utilization of old tailings by bulk ore sorting |
Jarmo Lohilahti |
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10:20-10:35 |
Synergies between Mg recovery, carbon storage and construction |
Päivö Kinnunen |
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10:35-10:45 |
Coffee break |
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10:45-11:00 |
A circular economy approach to abandoned mine wastes and tailings reuse: case studies from Sardinia, Italy |
Giovanni Grieco |
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11:00-11:15 |
Ultrafine magnesite flotation from dolomite-rich tailings |
Olcay Ayouglu |
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11:15-11:30 |
Upcycling spodumene tailings and volcanic ash in ceramic production: An overview of the properties |
Adeolu Adediran |
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11:30-11:45 |
Electrokinetic assisted tailings management - an operational paradigm transitioning from risk mitigation to resource recovery |
Raul Mollehuara-Canales |
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11:45-12:00 |
Discussion on theme 4 |
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12:00-13:00 |
Lunch break |
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13:00-15:00 |
Theme 5. Side-streams and circular economy strategies |
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13:00-13:15 |
Transitioning to holistic minerals processing via circular design - the framework and a case |
Inka Orko |
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13:15-13:30 |
Mineral Raw Materials and the Circular Economy: Bending the Chain to Ensure Sustainable Development |
Juan Menendez-Aguado |
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13:30-13:45 |
Understanding Direct Lithium Extraction through Modeling and Mechanism Analysis |
Junhua Xu |
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13:45-14:00 |
Pioneering low-carbon graphite and hydrogen production - case HYCAMITE |
Laura Rahikka |
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14:00-14:15 |
Circular Economy in Mine Design – Tapojärvi and Hannukainen Mining Building the Mine of the Future |
Maria Mantyla |
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14:15-14:30 |
Data-driven process design for direct recycling of lithium-ion batteries |
Rodrigo Serna |
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14:30-14:45 |
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Elif Yilmaz |
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14:45-15:00 |
Discussion on theme 5 |
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15:00-15:10 |
Closing of day 2 / event |
Ryan B. Dudek |
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