Symposium Raw Materials in a Circular Economy and annual KNGMG meeting

KNGMG is organizing a Symposium on Raw Materials in a Circular Economy, 22 May 2025 at Delft University of Technology. Before the symposium you are welcome to join the annual KNGMG board meeting.

Driven by the digital revolution, the energy transition and continuous growth of consumption, many resources are becoming increasingly scarce, affecting the global economy. China has invested heavily in securing resources for their industry for decades, resulting in a stronghold on upstream supply chains and processing capacity of raw materials. Europe recently adopted the Critical Raw Materials Act to support local sourcing and to reduce dependency on single suppliers. Yet the energy transition and the digitization  will continue and the demand for (Critical) Raw materials will subsequently increase, hence we need to address this challenge.

At the same time Europe (including the Netherlands) has the ambition to become a Circular Economy with the objective to significantly reduce the demand for resources, by decreasing waste stream, finding substitutions, extending the lifetime of products and (high end) recycling. Also local sourcing of materials. However, the appetite to develop new resources in Europe is low at its best while all agree that it is a good idea to reduce our dependence on China. This symposium aims to show the different perspectives on these developments, where possible solutions could be explored and we aim to provide a perspective and direction for possible actions.

The programme of this afternoon is:

11:00 – 12:00 Annual KNGMG meeting

Symposium:

12:30  Doors open

13:00 Keynote lecture by Peter Tom Jones (KU Leuven; SIM2 Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals) – Europe’s Lithium Crisis

14:00 Jelte Stam (NMO; Nederlands Materialen Observatorium) – Het NMO en het Nederlands exploratie programma

14:20 Kristin Strandberg (Circle Economy) – The mining sector through the lens of Doughnut Economics; an holistic assessment of the sector, where the social needs are a corner piece of the puzzle.

14:40 Irina Patrahau (HCSS) – Securing critical raw materials in an uncertain world: Perspectives from Dutch industry

15:00 Coffee/tea break

15:20 Panel discussion with the four speakers, Raw materials from a different perspective

16:00 Close & Drinks

The venue of both the annual meeting (Collegezaal B) and the symposium (Collegezaal A) is TU Delft, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, hall A, Stevinweg 1, Delft (click here for more information).

Costs for the symposium are:

– KNGMG member: 5 euros

– Student/PhD: free

– Others: 10 euros

– Normal fee + KNGMG membership: 20 euros

– Student/PhD + KNGMG membership: 10 euros

You may register for the symposium and/or the annual KNGMG meeting using the forms below: