Assuring the Future Supply of Raw Materials

First Posted: Mar 09, 2012 10:52 AM EST
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"Our future success in the key industrial branches automobile, machine, and plant construction as well as chemical technologies here in Germany will depend essentially on the availability of such strategically important resources as copper, gallium, or rare earths," says Prof. Jens Gutzmer, Director of the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology and Professor of Economic Geology and Petrology at the TU Bergakademie. These raw materials are indispensable for the development and production of high quality commodities at the industrial location Germany. That's why a long-term strategy to safeguard and assure raw materials is of vital interest to the German economy and a prerequisite for effective future risk management.

New developments in raw materials research and sustainable resource concepts are to be advanced further and promoted at the research venue Freiberg both by the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, the University of Resources, and the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology.

The Fourth Freiberg Innovations Symposium will be held in Freiberg under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). In addition to presenting the latest research results and approaches of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg and the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, leading German enterprises will provide insights into their raw materials management. The agenda focuses on the following four topics: 1) Raw Materials Management, 2) Primary Raw Materials (which are extracted from the earth), 3) Secondary Raw Materials (which are processed and, thus, reusable), and 4) Recycling as well as Processing and Products.

In addition to the 19 contributions from the research venue Freiberg and the German business community, there will also be presentations held by, for example, Prof. Juri Woitechowski from the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Prof. Patrick Taylor from the US American Colorado School of Mines.

The event, which has been held since 2002, addresses decision makers from industry, government, and science and communicates current developments in providing effective future risk management for strategic raw materials; thus, making a vital contribution towards solving the most urgent questions of our times.

Source: Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

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