The goal of the Recovery of Modern Valuables theme is to develop integrated methods to extract valuable components from secondary mineral streams. The work covers raw material characterization, mechanical and mineral processing (GTK), leaching and bioleaching of target metals (VTT), and downstream solid–liquid separation, as well as advanced separations in liquid media, such as ion exchange and emerging 4D scavenger technologies (LUT).  

The theme focuses on cases including Rautuvaara tailings and Sokli REE‑-rich materials, aiming to improve recovery efficiency of valuable metals and demonstrate scalable separation solutions. The theme delivers the practical technologies and separation processes needed to recover valuable metals from mining side streams, thereby reducing waste, improving material efficiency, and enabling the circular‑-economy mining model to function in practice. 

Theme leader organization: LUT University 

Contact person: Sami Virolainen sami.virolainen@lut.fi