The planned pilot plant for indium mining in the Ore Mountains has taken another step forward. According to the Freiberg-based mining company Saxore, which is driving the project forward as an industrial partner of researchers at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, the first test drillings have taken place underground in Pöhla.
Over the past two weeks, drill cores with a total length of 130 meters were extracted from a total of ten drill holes at the Zinnkammern Pöhla visitor mine. Beyond the visitor mine in neighboring Tellerhäuser, Saxore has been planning for years to establish a completely underground tin mine without visible tailings piles or processing facilities. The purpose of the test drilling in Pöhla is to research a novel mining process in which rare earth elements are extracted directly from the rock using microorganisms through a process known as “bioleaching” and subsequently recovered from the liquid. The advantage of this process is that it completely eliminates the need for mining methods such as underground blasting, explained Saxore spokesperson Axel Kunz.
