COG3: The geology, geometallurgy and geomicrobiology of cobalt resources leading to new product streams

钴是现代世界不可或缺的元素。它在金属合金、可充电电池、电子产品和化学品中的应用使其对低碳社会至关重要。Cobalt是全球电子技术领域市值最大的公司（2013年为21亿美元）。钴主要是作为开采其他主要金属的副产品回收的，因此，钴本身并不是成矿系统研究的重点。为了解决这一知识差距，我们提出了一个系统的地质，地球化学和矿物学的方法来了解钴的居住在一系列重要的当前和未来的矿石矿物在不同的地质环境。这项研究的一个具体重点是在地壳的关键地带形成的矿床，在那里生物活动和风化同时发生，钴被重新分配成创新的生物沥滤可以改变矿床处理方式的形式。利用从自然生物系统研究中获得的新知识，先进的生物沥滤技术将系统地应用于临界区形成的一系列矿床。生物沥滤对还原的、富含硫化物的矿石，特别是复杂硫化物和往往富含砷的矿石类型也有很大的潜力，在这些矿石类型中，生物沥滤还没有进行过大量的试验。该COG 3提案建立在我们的催化剂资助的基础上，该资助开发了一个多机构和多研究者联盟，该联盟具有国际公认的地球科学专业知识，包括地质学，地球化学，矿物学，微生物学和生物加工，位于英国领先的学术机构：赫灵顿（NHM），斯科菲尔德（NHM），约翰逊（班戈尔），劳埃德（曼彻斯特），Pattrick（曼彻斯特），科克（曼彻斯特），罗伯茨（南安普顿）、加德（邓迪）、格拉斯（埃克塞特）、莫塞尔曼斯（戴蒙德）和柯克（拉夫堡），在地质学、几何学和地质微生物学方面拥有深厚的专业知识，适用于制定从天然矿床中回收钴的战略。该集团由合作伙伴提供支持，包括大型矿业公司Glencore，Bronze ML和KGHM;一家位于欧洲的中型矿业公司Oriel;一家位于英国的小型矿业中小企业Brazilian Nickel，一家国际认可的商业研究实验室RPC，最后是代表整个供应链钴行业的钴开发研究所。它们都承诺参与该项目，有些是通过直接参与研究活动，有些是通过为研究和培训提供财政支持，还有一些是通过促进获得自然矿藏和数据集。进一步的支持来自澳大利亚CSIRO的研究同事。具体研究将通过一系列工作包进行，这些工作包将解决：1）自然系统中钴的地质学和矿物学; 2）钴的天然生物地球化学; 3）钴的生物加工和新产品的开发; 4）通过综合研究改善钴供应链并与代表供应链的利益相关者进行对话。这项研究直接涉及NERC矿产资源供应安全（SoS Minerals）倡议目标1和2，其基本目的是认识钴的矿物驻留和化学循环（目标1），并提供几何信息，以促进改善目前回收的新机会，通过几何学最大限度地减少废物;彻底测试创新的良性生物浸提技术，用于新型钴产品的提取和下游生物工程（目标2）。通过PI，Co-Is，合作伙伴的合作以及PDRA和博士的发展，该计划将代表NERC SoS计划为国际文献，高度重要的公共宣传和教育产生高影响力的科学出版物，并建立英国COG 3财团作为研究的世界领导者从天然矿床中创新钴回收。

Cobalt is an essential element for modern world. Its use in metal alloys, rechargeable batteries, electronics and chemicals make it critical for a low-carbon society. Cobalt has the largest global market value of any of the individual e-tech elements (US$2.1 billion in 2013). Cobalt is largely recovered as a by-product from the mining of other major metals and as a result, cobalt has not been the focus of study in ore-forming systems on its own. To address this knowledge gap we propose a systematic geological, geochemical and mineralogical approach to understanding the residence of cobalt in a range of important current and future ore minerals in diverse geological environments. A specific focus for this study are deposits forming in the Critical Zone of the Earth's crust where biological activity and weathering coincide and where cobalt is redistributed into forms where innovative bioleaching could change the way deposits are processed. Using new knowledge gained from the study of natural biological systems, advanced bioleaching techniques will be systematically applied to a range of deposits formed in the Critical Zone. Bioleaching also has great potential for reduced, sulphide-rich ores, particularly complex sulphide and often arsenic-rich ore-types where significant bioleaching has not yet been tested. This COG3 proposal builds on our catalyst grant which developed a multi institute and multi investigator consortium with internationally recognised expertise across the geosciences including geology, geochemistry, mineralogy, microbiology and bioprocessing based in leading UK academic institutes: Herrington (NHM), Schofield (NHM), Johnson (Bangor), Lloyd (Manchester), Pattrick (Manchester), Coker (Manchester), Roberts (Southampton), Gadd (Dundee), Glass (Exeter), Mosselmans (Diamond) and Kirk (Loughborough), with in depth expertise on geology, geometallurgy and geomicrobiology applicable to developing recovery strategies for cobalt from natural deposits. This group is underpinned by the Partners including major mining companies Glencore, FQML and KGHM; a mid-tier European-based mining company Oriel; a junior UK-based mining SME Brazilian Nickel, an internationally accredited commercial research laboratory RPC and finally the Cobalt Development Institute representing the cobalt industry throughout the supply chain. They have all pledged to engage in the project, some through direct involvement in research activities, some with financial support for research and training and others by facilitating access to natural deposits and datasets. Further support comes from research colleagues at CSIRO in Australia. Specific research will be delivered through a series of work packages which will address: 1) Geology and mineralogy of cobalt in natural systems; 2) Natural biogeochemistry of cobalt; 3) Bioprocessing of cobalt and development of new products; 4) Improving the cobalt supply chain through integrated studies and dialogue together with stakeholders representing the supply chain. This research directly addresses the NERC Security of Supply of Mineral Resources (SoS Minerals) initiative Goals 1 & 2 with a fundamental aim to recognise the mineral residence and chemical cycle of cobalt (Goal 1) and provide geometallurgical information that will facilitate new opportunities for improvements to current recovery, minimising waste through geometallurgy; thoroughly testing innovative, benign bioleach technologies for the extraction and downstream bio engineering of novel cobalt products (Goal 2). Through the collaboration of the PIs, Co-Is, Partners and the development of PDRAs and PhDs, the program will produce high impact scientific publications for the international literature, highly significant public outreach and education on behalf of the NERC SoS programme and establish the UK COG3 consortium as a world leader in research into innovative cobalt recovery from natural mineral deposits.