CRMsDataSpace: Building a European Data Space for Critical Raw Materials

Coal and lignite mining have produced enormous amounts of mine waste usually collected and left in long term storage facilities such (tailings, waste-rock dumps, and mine-water treatment) across Europe. These deposits may cause long-term environmental and geotechnical risks (instability, acid mine drainage, vegetation and land degradation), while coexisting with opportunities for the recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs). Improving the characterization of these volumes and integrating multiple data inputs is essential to support circular economy approaches to rethink the way mine waste is managed and contribute to regional transition processes in coal regions.

In practice, understanding and giving value to waste facilities is hindered by fragmented information across satellite products (multi and hyper-spectral, thermal, radar interferometry), airborne or UAV digital maps (laser scans, hyper-clouds, geophysical surveys), in-situ sensors, geotechnical observations, geochemical and mineralogical data. As a result, sites cannot be easily compared and Earth-observation data are rarely used directly to support resource assessments and decisions.

In this contribution, we demonstrate the concept of a European data-space framework dedicated to coal waste facilities.  CRMsDataSpace intends to collect scattered data from different sources and formats in a shared digital framework, where the data can be used together and facilitate interpretation. The data is subjected to quality control respecting data ownership and access control. This framework connects Earth observation (EO) data with ground-based references and laboratory analyses at different temporal and spatial scales by using common data structures, shared terminology, and modelling workflows that turn observations into indicators useful for CRM assessment and decision-making.

Demonstration waste facilities in coal and post-mining regions of Germany, Spain, Poland, and Romania will be used as case scenarios. The project combines existing legacy, compositional and EO products with new mineralogical and geochemical analyses, hydrometallurgical recovery tests and exploration drilling to provide comprehensive characterization. This infrastructure is implemented in a Minimum Viable Data Space, allowing sites to be compared in a consistent way and helping to identify and prioritize reprocessing opportunities. While the initial focus is on coal waste streams, the CRMsDataSpace tool is intended to be transferable to other mine-waste origins, supporting circular economy strategies and business opportunity for mining operators or governmental agencies aligned with the European Green Deal and the Critical Raw Materials Act.

The presented digital framework is developed within the EU-CRMsDataSpace project funded by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS).