Material flow data are generally used to assess the environmental footprint of economic activities, e.g. through life cycle assessments (LCAs). This is particularly relevant for the resource-intensive sector of primary raw material extraction and the associated raw material supply chains. As LCAs are firmly established in industry, research, and governmental organizations to support decision-making, e.g. for comparing the environmental impact between recycling processes and primary raw material extraction, an up-to-date and transparent database is the basis for meaningful results. However, the ecological parameters for primary raw material extraction up to refining in the databases often do not reflect the current status. In addition, the data for many metals are often only aggregated values and not available for individual process steps of mining, processing, smelting and refining.

To address this challenge, we conducted a comprehensive survey of emissions data and other project- or deposit-specific data on copper mining, smelting and refining, and correlated the results with currently available general sector data. The data collection was carried out, on the one hand, through a customized questionnaire completed by the companies participating in the studies and, on the other hand, through literature research. The newly acquired project-specific knowledge enables improved calculation of the carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions of representative mining projects and smelters/refineries. Furthermore, it serves for a direct analysis of the calculation bases for life cycle assessments and the data on CO₂ emissions of other data providers and their evaluation.

Because of its specific properties, nickel is set to play a key role in the implementation of new megatrends such as the energy and mobility transition. Nickel is used in many industries, primarily in the manufacture of stainless steel and nickel alloys. In addition to these established areas of application, a considerable increase in global nickel demand for battery production is expected until 2030, particularly due to the rapid global ramp-up of electric mobility.

Within this decade the global nickel demand is forcast to double. While the battery production in recent years was based mainly on the dissolution of nickel metal (so-called class 1), things changed in 2022 with intermediates (mainly MHP and nickel matte) representing the by far dominant nickel feed for the batttery production.

Currently, Indonesia is the only country to significantly increase the mine production to provide the necessary nickel intermediates to meet the future demand. Indonesia holds the largest nickel reserves and until 2013 was the worldwide leading nickel ore supplier. With the introduction of an nickel ore export ban, the country became the leading producer of refined nickel products within less than ten years. Moreover, Indonesia is already the by far largest exporter of nickel intermediates for the global battery value chain. However, this dramatic change is based mainly on Chinese investments. It raises questions on the secure and sustainable global nickel supply.

Hyperspectral remote sensing already is important in geoscientific research in the fields of geology, soil, exploration and mining. New hyperspectral satellite systems are already in operation (e.g. EnMAP, PRISMA and DESIS) and more systems are planned e.g. the European Copernicus Next Generation Hyperspectral Satellite CHIME. Investigated are the information contents of hyperspectral data for exploration target recognition and their dependency on spatial resolutions of different sensor platforms. Airborne data offer high spatial resolution of 2.5 m with limited areal data acquisition, whereas hyperspectral spaceborne sensors guaranty nearly worldwide data availability with the same spectral characteristics but medium spatial resolution (30 m). The aspects of high spectral resolution and high versus medium spatial resolution targeted mineral mapping is demonstrated. Hyperspectral satellite data are analyzed successfully to map major mineralogy and proxy minerals such as hematite for the ore mineralization at Gamsberg. The results indicate, that hyperspectral satellite data are an important data source for exploration activities despite the moderate spatial resolution. However, for detailed mapping especially within a mineralization zone, hyperspectral high spatial resolution data from airborne or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems are important, to understand and to map the mineralogy of such a zone in their complete complexity.

Mechanical excavators have been widely used for the excavation of rocks in mining and civil engineering projects. The excavation of hard rocks by mechanical machines is difficult due to low advance rate and high tool wear. This difficulty can be overcome by exposing hard rocks to microwave energy just before cutting. This paper presents the newly developed a microwave-assisted laboratory hard rock linear cutting machine. The cutting machine which can be equipped with disc cutter or conical cutter has been integrated with a microwave treatment system. The microwave system is composed of 25 kW-magnetron with a frequency of 915 MHz, wave guide, circulator, water load, stub tuner, and directional coupler. A rock sample is first exposed to microwave energy, then cut by cutter using the test system. During cutting tests, normal and cutting forces are measured, and specific cutting energy values are calculated. A preliminary cutting tests were carried out on some rock types using the cutting machine at different microwave power levels. It was observed that the optimum specific energy values ​​of the samples exposed to microwave energy were considerably lower than those that were not exposed to microwave energy. It was also observed that the optimum specific energy values ​​decreased quite steadily with increasing microwave power. The experiments using the new microwave assisted laboratory hard rock cutting machine showed that microwave treatment of rocks before cutting was an efficient method for the excavation of hard rocks.