"Gold and mercury recovery from small-scale mining tailings using microwave methodology.

• Grant number: 25/06214-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: November 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mining Engineering - Ore Beneficiation
• Principal Investigator: Oswaldo Menta Simonsen Nico
• Grantee: Oswaldo Menta Simonsen Nico

Abstract

The proposed project is aimed at the mineral industry segment, specifically at the development of responsible small-scale gold mining, with the objective of developing a laboratory-scale prototype of a gold recovery process using microwave technology.Gold is a widely traded and consumed asset around the world, with a broad range of stakeholders, including the financial market, jewelry industry, biomedical engineering, and electronics industry, among others. Furthermore, gold plays a critical role in the energy transition to clean technologies planned for this century. Increasingly, there is a global trend toward prioritizing the value chain of responsibly produced gold in all its current and future applications.However, the small-scale mining techniques used in Brazil-known as "garimpo"-are mostly rudimentary, inefficient, and rely on mercury as a production input. These factors contribute to irregular practices, environmental liabilities, severe impacts, and promote illegality and marginalization of the sector.The process of small-scale or artisanal gold extraction has historically focused on ores containing free gold of larger particle sizes, often leaving behind or discarding fine-grained gold that is difficult to recover and/or locked within the ore (refractory).This study aims to develop a process to recover both gold and mercury found in tailings, using innovative microwave technology, thereby transforming environmental liabilities into financial assets.The present project seeks to support small-scale miners, mining cooperatives, and prospectors in achieving greater efficiency in their gold recovery processes, and to provide the market with equipment and/or a system capable of being an advantageous and efficient alternative for value creation and environmental transformation (AU)