Additive Manufacturing for Critical Minerals

This book highlights the challenges to their efficient and sustainable production which impact climate, habitats, human living, future minerals availability, biodiversity and working conditions. This article evaluates the role of additive manufacturing in the sustainable production of critical minerals. An essential physical technology of the fourth industrial revolution, additive manufacturing is a transformative technology capable of enabling the complete redesign and rejuvenation of critical mineral industries towards a cleaner, more affordable, and resource-abundant future. In the mining of critical minerals, additive manufacturing enables automated exploration and mapping of critical mineral reserves using innovative robot and drone designs. It also enables process-wide automation and optimization in mining operations, facilitates better understanding of geology and rock mechanics, and opens new avenues for the research and development of independent remote mining bases. In the mineralogical and metallurgical processing of critical minerals, additive manufacturing enables the manufacture of high-performance, lightweight, wear-resistant, corrosion-resistant, low-cost, and recyclable tools and equipment and capabilities for their on-site repair, remanufacture and customization. Additive manufacturing enables the development of new mineralogical and metallurgical processes through rapid prototyping and presents new opportunities for metal recycling and their re-extraction from waste streams. Thus, additive manufacturing can make critical mineral production more efficient and sustainable by improvement in overall process efficiencies, reduction in energy, and water consumption, minimization, or remediation of waste streams, and reduction in operational and maintenance costs, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Distinguished Professor Suresh K. Bhargava, AM—recipient of the Queen’s Honour in 2022—is the visionary mind, idea creator, and driving force behind this book. As the founding director of RMIT University’s Centre for Advanced Materials and Industrial Chemistry, he is celebrated worldwide for his rare ability to seamlessly connect science with engineering, making him one of the most influential multidisciplinary scientists of his generation. With an H-index of 93, over 750 peer-reviewed publications, 23 book chapters, and more than 30,600 citations, Professor Bhargava’s pioneering contributions span chemical sciences, materials sciences, chemical engineering, catalysis, and the use of metals in medicine. He is the creator, principal author, and Editor-in-Chief of both this volume and the acclaimed Additive Manufacturing in Chemical Sciences and Engineering—already translated into German and soon to be available in other languages.

Distinguished Prof. Milan Brandt is the technical director of the Digital Manufacturing Facility and Director of the Centre for Additive Manufacturing at RMIT University. He is the lead Australian researcher in macro-machining and laser additive manufacturing and has conducted work over the last 37 years in laser cladding, cutting, drilling, welding, and additive manufacturing. This has resulted in technological advancements, patents, research papers, and commercial products, which have been recognized nationally and internationally in both scientific and industrial circles. He is a fellow of the Laser Institute of America, an honorary fellow of Weld Australia, a professorial fellow of the Department of Medicine, Melbourne University, and an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada. In 2018, he was the President of the Laser Institute of America which is the largest international association of researchers and industry involved with lasers and laser additive technology.

Emeritus Prof. Robin Batterham, FR Egg, AO, is currently the chairman of the steering committee of the net zero Australia (NZAu) project. Formerly, he has worked in the roles of the Chief Scientist of Australia (1999-2006), Group Chief Technologist at Rio Tinto (1999-2011), President of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (2007-2012), and president of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (2004-2005). He graduated from the University of Melbourne in Chemical Engineering in 1965 where he also completed his Ph.D. in 1969. He has been named in the Engineers Australia’s list of the 100 most influential engineers several times. Prof. Batterham is an elected fellow of many prestigious academies around the world including the Australian academy of science, the Swiss academy of engineering sciences, and the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK).

Dr. Stephen Grocott, FRACI, is the Group Head, Processing and Closure, at Newmont Ltd, the world’s largest gold producer. Prior to leading Newmont’s processing and closure portfolio, he was the managing director and CEO of Queensland Pacific Metals (QPM) in Australia, bringing over 40 years of expertise in minerals processing, process development, and industrial chemistry. His career spans a wide range of commodities and technologies, including nickel laterites and sulphides, bauxite, alumina, uranium, titania, copper, cobalt, rare earths, shale oil, and biofuels. Before QPM, he served as Chief Technical Development Officer at Clean TeQ and held senior technical leadership roles at Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton in mineral processing and hydrometallurgy. Earlier roles included contributions to global projects with Alcoa, Comalco, Southern Pacific Petroleum, and Worsley Alumina. For over 30 years, Dr. Grocott has worked closely with Distinguished Professor Suresh K. Bhargava, helping to bridge academia and industry.

Dr. Sunil Mehla is a technical project manager at Scimita Innovations Group, NSW, Australia, where he leads the development of novel technologies for recovering critical metals from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries. He studied chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and chemical engineering with a specialization in catalysis at IIT Madras. From 2012 to 2018, Dr. Mehla worked as a scientist at the Hindustan Petroleum R&D Centre, developing catalysts for fluid catalytic cracking, hydroisomerization, and hydrotreating. He earned his Ph.D. at RMIT University, Melbourne, under the supervision of Distinguished Professor Suresh K. Bhargava, where he researched surface-enhanced Raman scattering. Following this, he undertook a postdoctoral fellowship in Professor Bhargava’s group at the Centre for Advanced Materials and Industrial Chemistry (CAMIC), investigating the integration of additive manufacturing with critical mineral production.