Project duration and partners

2022 to 2025 - EU, Horizon Europe

Project objectives

• Increase awareness of the importance of CRMs in the green/digital transition.
• Strengthen EU's autonomy of critical raw materials.
• Improve knowledge base on CRMs.
• Accelerate develoment of CRM exploration projects.
• Increase awareness of the existence of sustainable mining approaches.

The international consortium consists of 20 organizations that include universities, research centers, SMEs and industrial operators from 11 countries mainly from Europe. 

Research methods comprise database searches, field surveys and sampling, as well as artificial intelligence based modelling. The geological and geophysical surveys will cover an area of 4,700 km2 in order to comprehensively map CRM resources. Field surveys are conducted at target sites in Finland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Zambia, Poland and Germany.

Md Ariful Islam

TU Bergakademie Freiberg
Institute of Mining Engineering and Special Civil Engineering
Chair for Underground Mining Methods

Research and Training mine "Reiche Zeche"
Fuchsmühlenweg 9
09599 Freiberg

+49 3731 39-3809
Md-Ariful [dot] Islam [at] mabb [dot] tu-freiberg [dot] de (Md-Ariful[dot]Islam[at]mabb[dot]tu-freiberg[dot]de)

• Are you interested in learning more about critical raw materials, their importance in everyday life and their role in the green and digital transition?

If so, we've got you covered. Your academic background and location don't matter, as the content is freely accessible and available online.

You can visit the newly created international online micro-credential 'European Critical Raw Materials for the Green and Digital Transition (ECRMs)' on the online platform Opal (also known as Bildungsplattform Sachsen). The course fills a gap in publicly available digital educational resources dealing with critical raw materials (CRMs), in particular rare earth elements (REEs) and battery materials (BRMs). As the contents were initially designed to complement the Master's and Dipl.-Ing. courses of prospective scientists and engineers interested in a career in the mineral raw materials sector, they are freely available for everyone after registering on the online platform Opal.

The contents of the micro-credential are based on close cooperation between industry partners of the AGEMERA project (EU grant agreement ID: 101058178) and its’ university partners TU Bergakademie Freiberg (TUBAF), Tallinn University of Technology (TT), University of Oulu (OU), University of Lapland (UL) and University of Zambia (UNZA), where the latest information from the practical field is integrated into academia. Information is divided into several chapters covering different topics of the mineral raw materials sector at different stages of the value chain. The lecture incorporates geological and engineering information while addressing geopolitical, economic and marketing as well as social and environmental aspects. Additionally, it provides information on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) and international resource classification frameworks, including the UN Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) and the UN Resource Management System (UNRMS).

If you want to participate in the online written examination to receive 3 ECTS credits, please check your study and examination regulations and/or communicate with your academic advisor to determine if the ECTS credits from this course can be recognized by your university for your study program.

As part of the AGEMERA research project funded by the European Commission (Grant Agreement ID: 101058178), an online-based survey on the opinion of the local population regarding the exploration and extraction of mineral resources will be conducted in the coming weeks. This survey will be conducted using an online questionnaire that was developed and tested as part of the project in Finland and is now publicly available in a second step in Germany and other partner countries (Estonia, Poland and Zambia) from the 1st of March to the 15th of May 2024. The local partner in the AGEMERA project is the Institute of Mining and Specialised Civil Engineering at TUBAF.

This survey asks, among other things, about the local population's acceptance of the exploration and extraction of mineral resources and the associated advantages and disadvantages for the local economy, for social coexistence in the region and for the environment. In addition, respondents are asked to express their opinion on important economic sectors and the future of their place of residence, their relationship to their place of residence and possible migration intentions and their influencing factors.

The survey also includes questions regarding trust in various players in the extractive industry. Map-based elements of the online survey allow participants to mark areas on a map as suitable or unsuitable for extractive industry activities. The survey collects both numerical and written information. The numerical data includes responses to question matrices and multiple-choice questions, while the written data includes responses to open-ended questions. No personal data is collected. Participants are therefore expressly requested not to provide any personal data in their answers. It is planned to repeat the survey before the end of the AGEMERA project (31 July 2025) in the form of a follow-up study.