(659d) Urban Mining: A Process and Technology Review

The recovery of non-ferrous metals (e.g., copper, aluminum, lead, nickel and precious metals) from urban waste can be economically attractive and represents a more sustainable alternative to the extraction of metals from naturally-occurring deposits. A brief overview of the economic and environmental performance behind the metal recovery processes from urban waste is provided to shed some light on the nature of the challenge and opportunity. Although in principle it could appear to be a simple concept, in practice the mining of “urban ore” is accompanied by a complex host of process and technology problems that span from logistical issues around the separation of the target waste to metallurgical recovery inefficiencies. Currently practiced urban mining processes and the associated state-of-the-art technological solutions are reviewed in this presentation. A conceptual roadmap is presented to explore the development of the processes and technologies that may one day aid in making urban mining ubiquitous around the world.