The COMAN Process

 

The goal of the COMAN process is to recover cobalt, nickel and manganese from tailings generated in ore concentration plants.

In a first step, cobalt and manganese will be concentrated. They will then undergo a sustainable bioleaching process. Lastly, the leach liquor will be purified through selective precipitation of cobalt, manganese, nickel and copper. The process also aims at the recovery and valorisation of remaining zinc to target zero-waste. Besides, the use of a more sustainable leaching process is one step ahead towards zero waste processing.

The COMAN process aims to be an environmentally and economically friendly process for increasing the recovery of critical metals from low grade tailings. This improves the EU supply of raw materials but is also expected to lead to a better environmental management of tailings.