10087807ReTail: Proving technical and economic recycling of battery metals from old mine tailings for re-entry into a UK electrified supply chain.ClosedFeasibility StudiesInnovate UKToday, metals needed to produce electric vehicle (EV) batteries are overwhelmingly sourced from large scale mining and/or industrial activities outside Europe at significant environmental, societal and financial cost. Increasing EV demand, the tightening of legislation, and the expected imposition of tariffs are all driving the need for local, resilient, green and responsible sources of these metals. Altilium Metals (AM) is a UK-based green technology group decarbonising the EV supply chain. AM's technologies enable resource circularity by recovering critical metals from existing sources, including spent electric vehicle batteries and existing metal mining waste, and using these in the production of new batteries. If the UK is to compete in battery manufacturing, then resilient and local supplies of battery materials are needed. While the focus has been to secure supplies of Lithium, Nickel and Cobalt, there has been much less attention on other critical metals used in batteries. For example, Copper makes up around 11% of an NMC battery by weight, while Aluminium typically makes up 19%. These metals are also used extensively in other EV components. While these metals are not conventionally considered rare, the growth of green transport and energy markets will greatly increase demand and require new supply options. 'The Future of Copper' report in 2022, warned: _"Unless massive new \[copper\] supply comes online in a timely way, the goal of Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 will remain out of reach_". Battery recycling is expected to meet only about 10% of the demand for battery materials in 2040\. In the ReTail project, AM will focus on recovery of metals from mining waste to meet this shortfall. AM holds exclusive rights to process and sell minerals from a large mine tailings site in Eastern Europe. Detailed analysis has confirmed significant residues of copper, iron, aluminium and other metals in the mining waste. AM also owns a processing plant on the site, with environmental permits, which has been designed to extract copper from the tailings. As such, AM is in a prime position to be a first mover in Europe in this market. The ReTail project aims to establish the techno-economic feasibility and environmental impacts of extracting and processing tailings from the site as a source of battery materials for UK EV battery manufacturing supply chains. AM will collaborate with CPI to develop clean and efficient methods to reprocess the tailings and extract metals to show feasibility for use in battery manufacturing.