ME Elecmetal's Associative Drive to Transform Mining Liabilities into High-Value Resources

Turning liabilities into sustainable value through collaboration

One of the great challenges in the mining industry is transforming the environmental liabilities accumulated at sites, often as the final residue from the mineral grinding process. These elements, traditionally considered terminal in their life cycle, usually occupy large areas in stockyards and/or dumps, generating management costs and representing environmental and social risks for the immediate environment and nearby communities.

In this context, ME Elecmetal and TTM decided to collaborate, seeking a solution that would allow rethinking the fate of these liabilities, turning them into useful assets aligned with the growing demands of circular economy and sustainability in the industry, and - most importantly - extending the useful life of a material previously considered spent, thereby revaluing it.

A collaborative innovation for circular mining

To address this challenge, both companies created the initiative Footprint Alliance (FPA), a solution combining deep collaboration in technological expertise, operational capacity, and innovation.

The market solution is structured into three lines of action:

• Grinding scrap management: which includes recovery, separation, and classification of mill scrap, obtaining secondary balls, scrap, and mineral, opening the possibility to reincorporate inputs that still retain value into the production cycle.
• Revaluation of mineral in low-grade dumps: development of prospecting and processing technologies to exploit minerals previously not economically viable.
• Exploration of critical minerals in tailings: identification of opportunities to recover valuable elements and reduce the environmental footprint of liabilities.

Thus, the core of this innovation is the joint development of a modular, semi-mobile recycling plant, which facilitates on-site operation, as well as its relocation to different sites and adjustment according to each client’s needs. All this is based on the integration of various technologies and methodologies:

• Advanced separation (mechanical, magnetic, and mineralogical) applied to a highly complex material such as grinding residue.
• Modular and semi-mobile design, allowing replication and scaling of the solution across different geographies and types of sites.
• Real circularity approach, where each byproduct has a productive destination: balls returning to the mills, scrap for foundries, and mineral for reprocessing.
• Innovation in management and business model: productively linking these byproducts with suppliers, clients, and universities, creating a complete circular system.

Accordingly, it operates in three stages:

1. Mechanical separation by ball size.
2. Magnetic and mineralogical classification, enabling differentiation of scrap, balls, and mineral.
3. Conditioning processes for each byproduct for its new production cycle.

Key benefits for clients and the mining industry

The implementation of this plant confirms a paradigm shift in ME Elecmetal’s operations and aligns with its Circular Business Model: a comprehensive system of material circulation and secondary resource surveying, where what has traditionally been considered waste becomes high-value raw material, improving logistics and recovering scarce resources.

Benefits for clients and the industry:

• Reduction of environmental liabilities
• Recovery of usable space, adding value to mining operations
• Restoration of economic value, reusable grinding balls that return directly to the mills, reducing the purchase of new inputs.
• Lower carbon footprint and reduced use of virgin raw materials, in line with global sustainability priorities, standards, and international regulations.
• Compliance with and anticipation of environmental regulations, especially regarding the REP Law in Chile and carbon neutrality commitments.

Benefits for ME Elecmetal:

• Diversification by addressing different value-adding areas around Circularity and being fully consistent with its Circular Business Model, strengthening relationships with strategic clients.
• Positioning as a leader in comprehensive circular solutions applied to mining, a still emerging field worldwide.
• Opening new business lines beyond traditional metallurgy, especially linked to circular economy and development.
• Strengthening its brand as an innovative and sustainable company, reinforcing industry and regulator trust.
• Generation of learnings and technological ownership that can be scaled internationally.
• Collaboration, collaboration, and more collaboration to achieve objectives.
• Soil recovery, a key element of the natural capital of companies and communities.

Economic and environmental impact of the project

In 2025, this solution secured a contract with the Carmen de Andacollo (Teck) operation, a project that involved the separation and valorization of materials accumulated on site, allowing recovery of grinding balls, scrap, and mineral from a stockpile close to 13,000 tons of material.

During execution, 13,938 tons of material were processed, confirming the validity of the initial technical estimates. The process achieved a recovery of 26.3% reusable spherical balls under 115 mm, more than double the minimum required by the client. The total ball content in the material exceeded 33%, validating the use of up to 40% recycled balls in the operation without negative impacts on key indicators such as granulometry, power, or processed tonnage.

Additionally, the project generated significant economic and environmental benefits. The client saved nearly US$2.6 million by avoiding the manufacture of new balls and reusing recovered material, while the site where the waste had accumulated was completely cleaned.

This pilot demonstrated the potential of the circular economy model, aligned with ME Elecmetal’s strategy to recover materials and reintroduce them into the production chain, contributing to emission reductions and promoting sustainable solutions for mining.