AGEMERA - Agile Exploration and Geo-Modelling for European Critical Raw Materials
Project duration and partners
2022 to 2025 - EU, Horizon Europe
Project description
Europe's goals in green and digital transition require innovative methods, techniques, and technologies to be used in mineral exploration. Europe has long traditions in base metal mining but has been less sucessful in developing projects to source CRMs whether lack of investments, the diverse national permitting procedures and the low levels of the public acceptance.
AGEMERA is a three-year research project that focuses on securing the European supply and independence of critical raw materials (CRMs) in order to meet the objectives of the green production. CRMs are the key for the electrification of mobility and renewable energy production, but responsible sourcing of CRMs is a growing concern across the world. That is why innovative, sustainable, and socially accepted methods in minerals exploration and resourcing are crucially needed. Europe is a leading developer of green technologies and thus CRMs are essential to Euope's economy.
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.
Surveying technologies include
- Drone-based magnetic, radiometric and electromagnetic survey systems.
- Novel muon-based density detection systems.
- Novel seismic techniques based on ambient noise interferometry and Raleigh wave ellipticity.
AGEMERA-project serves especially mining companies, survey equipment suppliers, researchers, policy makers, public society and non-governmental organizations. The project will also develop a CRM educational package and online game designed to be used at schools and universities. An open-access SoftGIS database on people’s social, cultural, environmental, and economic concerns related to mining and mineral exploration will also be created to be used together with the geological potential maps in order to ensure a basis for socially accepted and sustainable exploration and mining.
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)
Georg Meißner
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 39-3602
Georg [dot] Meissner [at] mabb [dot] tu-freiberg [dot] de (Georg[dot]Meissner[at]mabb[dot]tu-freiberg[dot]de)
Online survey
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 30th of April 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.
Your voluntary participation in the survey is crucial to develop a comprehensive understanding of the sustainability parameters related to the exploration and extraction of mineral resources in the Ore Mountains.
If you have any questions about the project and the survey at TU Bergakademie Freiberg, please contact Mr Ariful Islam (md-ariful [dot] islam [at] mabb [dot] tu-freiberg [dot] de) or Mr Georg Meißner (georg [dot] meissner [at] mabb [dot] tu-freiberg [dot] de) by e-mail. Ms Leena Suopajärvi, the author of the questionnaire, is also available to answer questions about the content as follows:
Mrs Leena Suopajärvi
leena [dot] suopajarvi [at] ulapland [dot] fi (leena[dot]suopajarvi[at]ulapland[dot]fi)
University of Lapland
Postbox 122, 96101 Rovaniemi (Finland).