Industrial Minerals review 2025 (Foreword: Greening the future of industrial minerals) - ME Feature Article

The future for the industrial minerals sector, and of mining in general, is being shaped by a new order of geopolitical and environmental factors. Last year’s foreword focused on an example of the former (U.S. tariff impact). Here, we shall focus on the latter, and in particular on mineral recycling. Mineral recycling is one of the two missions of the mineral industry right now; the other is decarbonization. Get these right and the industry will be more resilient to the challenges to come, plus making much-needed improvements to our environment. But mineral recycling should not be viewed as simply responding to environmental pressures, a checkbox on the corporate portfolio to allay fears and protests of damage to the environment, leading to charges of so-called greenwashing. While mineral recycling will be an important contributor to the circular economy and assisting in climate protection, it will also evolve as an essential alternative source of raw materials, presenting opportunities in mineral recycling project developments, and increased innovation and supply of pertinent processing and sorting technologies. This new era of industrial mineral recycling is already underway and gaining momentum. But it is not plain sailing, mindsets need to be adopted and correct processes employed. Key questions raised include: • How to go about getting involved in this sector? • Whether to vertically integrate? Invest for an in-house business/plant? • How much and how far to invest? What kind of processing/sorting technology is required? • Partner with/acquire an independent recycler? Join forces with same-sector end-use players? • What kind of logistics are involved? Permits for handling/transport? Costs? • Crucially: making grade acceptable, consistent and economic for customers?