The Laboratory of Excellence RESSOURCES21 (LabExR21) and the Lorraine Earth and Environment observatory OTELO will host the first International workshop on the challenges and perspectives for supplying rare earth elements in Nancy (France), from 8 to 10 October 2019. This workshop is a call for cross-disciplinary contributions.
Rare earths are essential components of modern technologies. The workshop is intended to discuss the challenges and technologies to be implemented for the sustainable management of rare earth resources. Firstly, it will focus on the knowledge of deposits and ores but also on secondary resources that can contribute to ensure the supply of rare earth industries too. Rare earth extraction and separation processes will be tackled in the perspective of sustainable mining development. Finally, it will focus on the recycling of mining sites after exploitation, with a focus on ecological restoration and recovery using nature-based solutions. Organised in four sessions, major topics will be introduced by keynote speakers.
Organised in four sessions, major topics will be introduced by keynote speakers
Challenges
- The needs and market of rare earth elements at world and European scales
- Natural reserves, their distribution and characteristics
- The potential of secondary resources
REE natural concentrations and REE geochemical cycle
- Main deposits (carbonatites, alkaline intrusions...)
- The cycle of REEs in the crust and subsurface
- Secondary resources
Processes for sustainable mining and recovery
- Is mining sustainable? Social integration of mining activities
- Ecological and ecotoxicological consequences of REE mining
- Extraction processes and value chains
- Separation and recovery of REEs from various matrices
Recycling mining sites and restorating ecosystem services
- Ecological engineering
- Re-use of former REE mine sites
Open to all stakeholders at international level, we are planning keynote lectures, short communications and a poster session. The meeting and related activities will provide opportunities for warm exchanges between scientists.
We look forward to seeing all of you there!
Keynote speakers
Rémi Marsac, Researcher in Geochemistry, CNRS Université de Rennes 1 (France )
Susanne Heise, Professor for Environmental Toxicology, Hamburg University (Germany)
Jovette Godbout, IRME-UQAT (Canada)
Benoit Plante, IRME-UQAT (Canada)
Alain Rollat, consultant in Rare Earths Technology at Alain Rollat consulting (France)
Yetao Tang, Professor at Sun Yat-sen University (China)
Registration deadline: 9 September 2019
Abstracts as shown in the template are due for 3 September 2019.