Critical Minerals Challenge Centre brings partners together to explore progress, partnerships and possibilities
The Critical Minerals Challenge Centre brought researchers, industry partners, policymakers and other stakeholders together on 18 September for an event focused on Progress, Partnerships & Possibilities.
The event provided an opportunity to reflect on the Centre’s progress since its launch, showcase emerging research and explore how collaboration can help shape the next generation of critical minerals projects.
The Centre has continued to grow its research network, bringing together academics from across the University of Exeter alongside industry, government and other partners. Its vision is to support the development of a critical minerals sector that delivers nature-positive, low-carbon and community-accepted solutions, while contributing to a stronger and more integrated South West business ecosystem.
Throughout the day, Innovation Fellows and industry partners shared updates across the Centre’s research themes, including analytical and geometallurgy protocols, value from mine waste, exploration and extraction technologies, sustainable finance, biodiversity and the circular economy.
Research presented included work using hyperspectral imaging to support geometallurgical decision-making, investigations into biodiversity and ecological recovery at mine sites, and the development of lower-impact approaches to mineral exploration and extraction. The Centre’s emerging work on sustainable finance is also examining investment barriers across the critical minerals value chain and how finance can support responsible project development.
Exploring new research opportunities
The afternoon workshop gave participants the opportunity to identify potential areas for future research and collaboration, with five groups exploring challenges, new project ideas, potential funding opportunities and the partners needed to take ideas forward.
Discussions ranged from nature-positive mining and community engagement to the challenges of UK reindustrialisation and the “valley of death” between academic research and R&D-scale innovation.
Other groups explored how to maximise the value of mine waste and improve recycling and recovery, while technical discussions identified opportunities around AI and machine learning, automated ore sorting, hydrogeology, modular mineral processing, geophysics and operational data collection.
Together, the discussions highlighted the need for interdisciplinary research that connects technical innovation with environmental, social, financial and policy considerations.
From ideas to action
The event also provided an opportunity to consider potential routes for turning these ideas into collaborative projects, with the Centre sharing a range of potential funding opportunities including UKRI, Innovate UK, regional funding, Horizon Europe and company-led R&D programmes.
The discussions reinforced the importance of bringing researchers and partners together early to identify shared challenges and develop research that can make a practical difference.
As the Critical Minerals Challenge Centre moves forward, these conversations will help shape new collaborations and research projects aimed at supporting a more sustainable, resilient and innovative UK critical minerals sector.