The LiCuPlus project is an EU-Chile partnership for sustainable critical raw material (CRM) extraction, processing and refining from complex, low-grade copper ores, and lithium brines. The consortium comprises 19 partners from Belgium, Chile, Greece, and Germany, among which TU Bergakademie Freiberg is the coordinator (Institute of Nonferrous Metallurgy and Purest Materials and Institute of Biosciences). 

Copper and lithium are critical and strategic commodities for the transition from fossil fuel-based anergy systems to low-carbon technologies. Therefore, the demand for both increases as the energy increasingly rely on renewable electricity, electrification are critical and strategic raw materials for the transition from fossil-fuel-based energy systems and energy storage. At the same time, the increasing need to process lower-grade and chemically more complex lithium brines makes lithium recovery more challenging. In copper mining, the depletion of higher-grade, readily accessible deposits has hassled to the processing of more complex and low-grade copper ores, often containing elevated concentrations of impurities (e.g. As, Sb), which can increase energy consumption, waste generation and CO₂ emissions within the copper cycle. 

To develop cost-effective, and environmentally benign alternatives for copper recovery and arsenic management, the Microbiology and Biohydrometallurgy working group of TU Bergakademie Freiberg will develop redox- and temperature-controlled bioleaching approach with minimal chemical and energy consumption using acidophilic microorganisms to maximize Cu recovery while promoting arsenic removal as stable arsenic compound.

By applying an integrated approach based on sustainability, technological viability, replicability, stakeholder engagement, and circularity, LiCuPlus aims to demonstrate technologies solution across the Cu and Li value chain by 2029.