Mineral Commodities Ltd’s (ASX: MRC) 90% owned subsidiary Skaland Graphite AS is a member of the DINAMINE consortium which has been successful in a European Union grant application.
The multidisciplinary consortium consists of 11 partners from six European countries including three leading research institutes as well as industry partners.
The €12.3M project, coordinated by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), targets improving the efficiency and sustainability of European small-to-medium mining enterprises through innovation and digitisation, including robotics, artificial intelligence, sensors and automation, and an innovative and holistic mine management system.
The project represents a step-change in process management at Skaland from the current, essentially manual operations. Beneficial applications for Skaland will include mine to port optimisation of the production process using: sensors, models and process control algorithms developed by the consortium to optimise plant production rates; semi- automated drilling and remote geotechnical monitoring at Trælen mine to reduce mining costs and improve mine safety; and evaluation of alternative tailings options aimed at reducing Skaland’s environmental footprint even further.
This will allow Skaland Graphite to maximise graphite concentrate production and support future certification requirements for graphite concentrate supply into the Lithium-ion battery supply chain.
We are very pleased to receive the news of the successful application and grant agreement finalisation between the DINAMINE Consortium and Horizon Europe,” CEO, Adam Bick, said.
“The DINAMINE Project provides Skaland with access to not just innovative technologies and systems but also the highly skilled personnel working on this project from the project partners.
“Optimising Skaland Graphite performance through leading edge sensors, equipment and control systems will position it as the premium European supplier of natural graphite. The Skaland team looks forward to participating in the Project to further improve performance at our mining and process operations and support European supply of critical minerals.
“The project further advances MRC’s Battery Minerals Division strategy of becoming a battery anode supplier in Europe, leveraging the Skaland Graphite operations.”