Seville, Spain – March 28, 2025 – The DEXPLORE EU Project, a Horizon Europe initiative focused on advancing sustainable exploration technologies for deep-seated Critical Raw Materials (CRMs), marked two major milestones this March with its Month 6 Consortium Meeting and a field visit to the Atalaya Riotinto pilot site in Andalusia, Spain.
On March 26th, the 13-member consortium gathered for the first in-person project meeting, hosted by the project coordinator, the Iberian Sustainable Mining Cluster (ISMC), in Seville. This gathering provided an essential opportunity to assess progress across the project’s eight work packages and align strategies moving forward.
Key discussions during the meeting included:
- Review of deliverables and milestones achieved during the first six months,
- Assessment of preliminary results from field and lab-based activities,
- Coordination among technical work packages focused on geophysical, geochemical, and modeling innovations for CRM exploration.
Field Visit to Atalaya Riotinto Pilot Site
On March 27th, the DEXPLORE team conducted a site visit to the Atalaya Riotinto pilot area, one of the project’s key demonstration sites. The pilot will host testing of non-invasive, geophysical and geochemical exploration techniques designed to reduce environmental impacts while improving subsurface targeting of critical mineral resources.
The field visit provided a hands-on opportunity to:
- Examine real-world application conditions for DEXPLORE’s emerging exploration toolkit,
- Strengthen collaboration with Atalaya Mining, the pilot site partner and a key player in the Andalusian mining sector,
- Connect ongoing research with operational realities of modern mining environments.
Following the site tour, the consortium visited the Riotinto Mining Museum, gaining historical insights into the region’s rich mining legacy and the evolution of mineral exploration and extraction practices.
This meeting was a key milestone for strengthening collaboration among partners and ensuring coherent progress across all technical and scientific activities while reinforcing the relevance of bridging scientific innovation with regional development and environmental responsibility.
