Colloquium on raw material potentials and geothermal energy MSH 2024
Photo: Jennifer Hintzen /
The Regionalgesellschaft für Bildung, Forschung und Kompetenzentwicklung e.V. (Regional Society for Education, Research and Skills Development) hosted a colloquium with lectures and discussions under the direction of Dr. sc. oec. Lutz Koch at the Hotel Graf von Mansfeld in Lutherstadt Eisleben on October 17, 2024. During the event, experts offered insightful insights into the complex historical, economic and political contexts of Mansfeld mining and metallurgy from the past to the present.
Due in particular to its mining and industrial history, the district of Mansfeld-Südharz is home to numerous secondary deposits containing significant levels of metals, some of which are critical in terms of their economic relevance and limited availability. These include residual materials that are stored in the form of production waste, slag, ash and dust on mining and smelting heaps as unused raw material potential in the region. There is a consensus among leading raw materials scientists that these raw material reserves should be extracted in a resource-efficient circular economy and returned to the economic cycle.
The colloquium therefore focused on presentations on current raw material and geothermal energy projects as contributions to the energy transition and structural change process in the Mansfeld region, as well as geoscientific, hydrogeological and scientific-archival topics currently in preparation, including the use of primary mineral resources in the region.
The event was rounded off by various guest and discussion contributions from renowned geoscientists and local and national representatives from politics and administration, who discussed possible developments in the region and opportunities for the future of the Mansfeld region. The colloquium provided insights into future transformation processes in terms of structural change and highlighted the compatibility of the economic use of primary and secondary raw material reserves and the preservation of the environment and renaturation of ecosystems.
