With the transition to a low carbon future and increasing technological applications, the global demand for metals will continue to rise into the foreseeable future. However, primary ore deposits are finite, and to continue production, lower grade and more complex ore deposits need to be discovered, evaluated and exploited, with increasing exploration and production costs. Additionally, there are significant geopolitical constraints on global resources for some critical raw materials and metals, along with ethical constraints of ‘off‐shoring’ minerals supply to areas of the world with poor records in terms of legal mineral production, human rights violations, health and safety, and the long‐term environmental impact of mining. Whilst it is unlikely at present to be able to fully meet supply needs, one source of metals for the future is through recycling of both domestic and industrial waste. Modern waste streams such as end‐of‐life lithium‐ion batteries and electrical waste commonly contain significantly more metals than primary ore deposits before processing. However, these waste materials are complex, and through two case studies in this article, we focus on how methods commonly used in modern mining and mineral processing can be used to assist the processing and recovery of metals from waste. Perhaps it is time to reclassify waste as valuable resources for the future.
Pirrie et al. (Thu,) studied this question.