UA SRC Awarded Regents’ Research Grant for Repurposing Copper Mining Waste Rock
Oct. 10, 2023
Dr. Raina Maier, UA SRC Associate Director and Project 5 Lead, and Julie Neilson, UA SRC Project 5 Investigator and CESM Director, are part of a group of researchers awarded a $3.6 million Regents’ Research Grant approved by the Arizona Board of Regents.
Through this grant, Arizona public university researchers are partnering with the State Mine Inspector and mining community to find new ways to reuse copper tailings, the waste rock left behind after mining the ore.
With support from the grant, university researchers plan to assess the metal content from this waste rock in search of critical elements such as lithium, which are used in everything from cell phones to electric vehicles and pacemakers. This interdisciplinary project will draw on the expertise of a total of 13 faculty and staff in nine departments across all three Arizona public universities.
"The extraordinary volumes of leftover rock from copper mining make reprocessing copper tailings a world-class challenge and opportunity for Arizona," said assistant professor Isabel Barton, from the Department of Mining and Geological Engineering in the University of Arizona College of Engineering. Barton is serving as principal investigator for the Regents' Research Grant. "This large-scale interdisciplinary project represents a substantial first step toward making use of a massive, but undeveloped, potential resource," she added.