News & Events

Horizon Europe projects LITHOS, EXCEED, and XTRACT are co-organising a capacity-building webinar on April 29 at 13:00 CET focusing on sustainability assessment, (Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) and Techno Economical Assessment (TEA) in mining and processing activities for critical raw materials (CRMs) production.

The agenda includes the following topics:

• Introduction to LCA of CRMs: the case of battery-grade lithium production, presented by Dr. Georgios Bartzas, Senior Researcher
• Sustainable and Cost-Effective Lithium Extraction from Li-bearing hard rock ores: Process Simulation and Techno-Economic Analysis using SUPERPRO Designer presented by  Associate Professor Dimitrios Ipsakis
• From Environmental Thinking to Social Insight: Introducing Social-LCA, presented by Mrs. Antonia Papadaki, Researcher

The webinar is open to undergraduate and graduate students, early-stage researchers, and professionals interested in enhancing their knowledge in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) and Techno Economical Assessment (TEA), with a focus on their application in mining and processing activities for critical raw materials (CRMs).

This joint initiative aims to communicate the scientific achievements of each project, while strengthening collaboration and knowledge exchange among projects working towards sustainable and responsible mining of critical raw materials.

If you are interested, please register here  by 26 April 2026!

Registered participants will receive an email with the Capacity Building Seminar’s Zoom link.

Europe’s path to climate neutrality depends on critical minerals (lithium, rare earths, nickel, cobalt), which are all increasingly being weaponised in today’s World of Fortresses (dixit Mark Carney). This situation is further exacerbated as a result of (another) war in the Middle East. While recycling and circularity are essential, they cannot fully meet the scale of the cleantech transition. This is now even more true as AI/digitalisation and defense applications are further boosting the demand for critical minerals.

Primary mining and refining of critical minerals will remain necessary. But history shows that mining can bring profound environmental, social and cultural disruption, especially for local and indigenous communities. So the real challenge is not only whether we mine – but under which conditions, and with whom at the table.

The organisers of the present event advocate a shift from “top-down-pushing-it-down-your throat-kind-of-acceptance-approach” to genuine co-creation. We promote community-centric, benefit-sharing approaches where local communities are recognised as active stakeholders in resource governance.

Because the energy transition must also be a just transition. Industry, trade unions, NGOs, indigenous representatives and community voices, policymakers and researchers will engage in an open, respectful dialogue where parties should not only speak but also genuinely LISTEN. We do not seek to secure approval, but to build authentic social contracts for responsible mineral/metal production. The programme combines a global perspective (with inspirational non-EU speakers), a European perspective and a Nordic perspective. In the final session we will wrap it all up and see if we have developed more common ground.

“The energy transition cannot succeed without critical minerals. But it cannot succeed without social legitimacy either.“

Download the event’s programme

The webinar is co-organised by ENICON, EXCEED, CICERO, AVANTIS, LITHOS projects and will take place online on 29th of May 2025.

The seminar will prioritize international collaboration to foster global cooperation in CRM innovation and policy development. Two high level experts from USA – Prof. Z. Agioutantis (University of Kentucky) and Australia – Prof. G. Barakos (Curtin University) will emphasize the global perspective of CRM mining and research technologies.

More information

If you are interested, please register at the following link, until 27/5/2025. Registered participants will receive an email with the Zoom link.

Register here

Mark your calendars for 12 December 2024, when the third edition of the annual workshop of the Cluster Hub “Production of raw materials for batteries from European resources”.

The event will be hybrid. It will take place in Brussels, at Thon Hotel EU, Rue de la Loi 75, 1040. The number of seats is limited, and will be assigned on a first come first served policy. However, interested participants can attend online, upon registration with the LINK.

Batteries have been around for centuries, with successive technological advancements leading to major electrical leaps: from the early rise of telegraphs and telephones to the modern life ‘commodities’ such as consumer electronics, electric vehicles and healthcare.

Despite a policy context incentivising European stakeholders to build a climate-neutral society, this ambitious plan hinges on the electrification of two key industrial sectors – transport and energy – accounting together for 76 % of the EU’s GHG emissions. To meet the rising demand of batteries, Europe is looking for alternatives to reduce its dependency on battery imports and enhance its competitiveness in the global battery market. This push to re-industrialise Europe’s battery manufacturing is supported by technological advancements.

The Cluster Hub ‘Production of raw materials for batteries from European resources’ is organising the third edition of its annual workshop on 12 December 2024. With each edition, the hub plans to provide a comprehensive overview of the most promising technologies engaged in the production of raw materials for batteries, from raw materials mining to recycling.

Additional to the technical sessions which will present the most recent results from the member projects included in the EU-funded hub, the workshop will set off with an incursion across the European policy environment, introduced by representatives of the European Commission and BEPA.

Download the agenda

Who is the event dedicated to?

Any stakeholder interested in the R&I context in the battery sector, whether a representative of industry, cross-sector activities, research community or a policy-maker, is welcome to participate. Each session presenting results will be concluded with a dedicated Q&A slot, where participating attendees are invited to address questions.

Beyond presenting the latest results accomplished by our member projects, the event plans to open the stage to challenging discussions, ultimately aiming to identify opportunities for value creation within the European battery sector.

Disclaimer

The event will be recorded (audio & video) and pictures will be taken. Should participants have any objections, these should be addressed to the organisers.

Registration

The event is hybrid. On site participation is limited to the conference room capacity. Seats are limited and allocated to the first 40 participants expressing interest.

Register for on site participation

The event can also be attended online, using Teams platform. Registration is mandatory.

Register here for online participation

The ENICON Horizon Europe funded research project, organizes the 1^st Capacity Building Seminar, on the 2^nd and 3^rd of October 2023. The seminar will take place at the Technical University of Crete’s Campus, Greece, in a hybrid format.

The target group of the seminar involves mainly graduate and post graduate students and early stage researchers, however all students and researchers in topics related to ENICON’s objectives are welcome.

The seminar will take place at the Technical University of Crete’s Campus, Greece, in a hybrid format. Four lectures will be given by Prof. Koen Binnemans (KU Leuven), Prof. M. Konsolakis (TUC), Dr. Arne Peys (VITO) and Dr. George Bartzas (ΤUC), who are experts in their fields.

A Zoom link will be provided to the registered participants after the closing of the registration period.

The detailed program is the following:

Register here