MineLoop – LCA for technology metals

Integrating high-resolution circular economy metrics within life cycle assessment software to drive resource circulation and reduce criticality of key technology metals

Project Lead: Minviro

Minviro Ltd is a UK SME pioneering world-leading Life Cycle Analysis tools to enable the mineral value-chain to radically improve their environmental credentials. Minviro is currently developing two LCA software products (for use by non LCA experts) to support:
• better design of mines/processing facilities/refineries (cradle-to-refinery-gate) (MineLCA).
• downstream users in battery manufacturing (cradle-to-factory-gate) to select materials with minimal environmental impacts (MineBIT).

By building on pioneering research by the NICER Met4Tech Centre from University of Exeter Circular Economy Group, Minviro will be able to integrate circular metrics to its current LCA digital solutions. This software add-on ‘MineLoop’ will sit within its existing LCA tools, helping drive circularity at every part of the supply-chain (to lower the carbon footprint of each process step). Integrating MineLoop will enable Minviro to make transparent the environmental impact of CRMs from any Primary and Secondary source (including recyclates).