Battery Metals

Battery metals are vital for Europe’s green transition, contributing to clean energy technologies and electrified transport. CAMM-CRM’s research strengthens Sweden’s role in developing sustainable, resilient, and circular supply chains for key battery metals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and copper.

Summary

Led by Edward Lynch, Postdoctoral Researcher in Ore Geology, the Battery Metals Research Pillar (RP2) aims to secure a sustainable and diversified supply of metals essential to the energy transition. These include Li, Co, Ni, Mn, and Cu, along with emerging elements such as V, La, Zr, Ta, P, S, and Ge that are gaining importance through new battery chemistries like sodium-ion and solid-state systems.

Sweden and northern Fennoscandia offer a strong geological foundation for battery metals research, hosting a variety of Ni-Cu-(PGE), Cu-Co-Ni, and LCT pegmatite deposits. CAMM-CRM will integrate cutting-edge geological, geophysical, and metallurgical research to unlock these resources while also advancing innovations in processing, recycling, and environmental management.

Goals

• Help secure a sustainable supply of battery metals for Europe and reduce import dependency.
• Develop advanced exploration models and mineral systems understanding.
• Enable by-product recovery through geometallurgical integration.
• Innovate beneficiation and pre-processing for complex ores and secondary sources.
• Advance sustainable hydrometallurgical and electrochemical refining methods.
• Train future experts and strengthen LTU’s role in international battery research networks.

Research Focus and Key Areas of Work

• Mineral Systems and Exploration
  This research aims to develop improved metallogenetic and mineral systems models for Sweden’s major battery metal-bearing environments, including orthomagmatic Ni-Cu-(PGE), hydrothermal Cu-Co-Ni, and LCT pegmatite systems. Enhanced geological understanding will be paired with state-of-the-art exploration techniques such as ultra-trace element leachate analysis, indicator mineral fingerprinting, drill core spectral scanning, and drone-based geophysical surveys. Integrating magnetotelluric (MT) and seismic methods with 3D structural modelling will provide a holistic view of mineral systems from depth to surface, improving exploration targeting and reducing discovery risk.
• By-Product Recovery and Geometallurgy
  Cobalt and nickel often occur as by-products in complex Zn-Pb-Ag and Cu-Zn deposits, typically bound within sphalerite, pyrite, or Co–As–Sb minerals. This research will investigate the geological and chemical controls on their enrichment and distribution to improve exploration targeting. Integrating these findings into geometallurgical models enhances resource efficiency and supports effective by-product recovery.
• Beneficiation and Pre-Processing Innovations
  Many of Sweden’s Ni-Cu-(PGE) and Zn-Pb-Ag deposits hosting Co and Ni are mineralogically complex, with valuable elements finely intergrown or lattice-bound, making them difficult to process conventionally. This research develops flexible beneficiation circuits, selective flotation schemes, fine grinding strategies, and eco-friendly reagents to produce metal concentrates suitable for downstream refining. It will also target secondary sources such as slags, dusts, sludges, and end-of-life batteries, which require beneficiation-style pre-processing to concentrate valuable metals. Mechanical separation techniques – including dismantling, shredding, density classification, magnetic and electrostatic separation – are optimized to isolate black mass containing Co, Ni, Mn, and Li. By improving these steps, CAMM CRM aims to reduce chemical loads in refining, increase recovery, and enhance sustainability across the battery metals value chain.
• Hydrometallurgical and Electrochemical Refining
  Sweden’s strong industrial base provides an excellent platform for innovation, with facilities like Boliden’s Rönnskär smelter leading in e-waste recycling and a planned large-scale battery recycling plant in Skellefteå, designed to process over 100,000 tonnes of spent batteries annually. CAMM CRM will conduct research on hydrometallurgical and electrochemical separation tailored to complex leachates from recycled batteries and residues. Key challenges include reducing chemical consumption, improving selectivity – especially for Co, Ni, Mn, and Li – and producing high-purity products for reuse in new batteries. Future recycling workflows will also integrate graphite purification and regeneration, enabling a fully circular approach to lithium-ion battery material recovery.
• Integration and Collaboration
  Research Pillar 2 (Battery Metals) connects with national initiatives such as LTU’s Research Center for Advanced Battery Technologies (RECAT) and the proposed Research School in Battery Research (in collaboration with CTH, KTH, and UU). Together, these efforts build Sweden’s competence base and strengthen Europe’s position in global battery materials research and innovation.

Current Projects

• Charaterization of the Kiskamavaara Co-Cu deposit
• Tectonic controls on Ni-Cu-PGE mineral systems
• Extraction and recovery of Li via leaching of a pyrometallurgically formed dust followed by anti-solvent crystallization of LiOH*H2O
• Crystallization for lithium purification from battery leachate
• Green depressants in recycling Li batteries
• Enhancing the flotation separation of electrode active materials through recycling of batteries