Novel processing methods to extract and refine nickel, copper and cobalt products from sulphide mineral concentrates
Aberdeen Minerals would like to find innovators who already have, or have the potential to develop, a novel mineral processing technology to extract and refine nickel, copper and cobalt products from sulphide mineral concentrates derived from North East Scotland. The challenge involves developing and demonstrating a processing solution for the direct production of critical raw materials for UK industry, in a way that is more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable than shipping products to overseas smelters.
Opportunity
Challenge opens
16/04/2026
Challenge closes
29/05/2026
Benefit
Aberdeen Minerals is looking to use open innovation to develop novel mineral processing methods to extract and refine nickel, copper and cobalt products from sulphide mineral concentrates mined from North East Scotland. The target is to identify a processing technology to produce saleable intermediate products suitable for further refining, or industry-ready products e.g. for the lithium-ion battery sector. For a successful solution there could also be opportunities to apply for collaborative funding to develop the technology and an overall processing flowsheet for the project, and potential for the challenge holder to acquire or license the technology. There is significant prospective commercial impact through future UK critical raw material production, and further commercialisation across other UK / European / global nickel sulphide projects.
Background
Aberdeen Minerals is a private company investing in geological exploration for nickel, copper and cobalt sulphide mineral deposits in North East Scotland. Nickel and cobalt are classified by the UK Government as “critical minerals” and copper is a “growth mineral”. The Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy (November 2025) targets at least 10% of annual UK demand for critical minerals to be met through domestic production (primary extraction, processing and refining of critical minerals) by 2035.
The company is currently being financed by a multi-million pounds investment by a mining industry investor, Central Asia Metals Plc. Drilling and geophysical investigations are ongoing at the Arthrath Project in Aberdeenshire, intended to identify and delineate subsurface zones with sufficiently high levels of metal concentration to support a long-term mine development.
Nickel, copper and cobalt at Arthrath occur in sulphide mineral deposits comprising primarily of the minerals pyrrhotite, pentlandite (nickel-cobalt host) and chalcopyrite (copper host). The conventional processing route for this deposit typeis to produce a sulphide mineral concentrate at the mine site, which is sold onward to a smelter for further processing. As there are no smelters in the UK, future concentrate production would need to be shipped overseas meaning that these nickel, copper and cobalt critical raw materials would be lost from UK domestic supply chains.
Further drawbacks with processing via a smelter include: recovery losses to achieve smelter quality concentrates; economic losses through payability rates and penalty elements; loss of cobalt during smelting; transport costs; environmental impacts.
Significant amounts of nickel, copper and cobalt at lower concentration levels have already been delineated at Arthrath within zones that may eventually be considered un- or sub-economic using conventional processing methods.
The challenge is therefore to develop an alternative processing route to recover and refine the critical raw materials domestically, enabling direct supply to UK industry, reducing reliance on overseas production and mitigating the environmental and social impacts of raw material supply chains.
Improving the overall economics of a mineral development at Arthrath will accelerate the project’s development, bring forward the creation of skilled jobs and enhance the project’s investability and financial performance.
Further commercialisation of a solution could also be possible across other UK / European / global nickel sulphide projects.