We are so pleased to announce the expansion of our biomining pilot testing facilities, underscoring our commitment to advancing cost-efficient and sustainable mineral processing technologies. The facilities have been enlarged by integrating additional neighboring rooms, creating space for new 1 cubic metre pilot-scale reactors, additional test columns with volume 200L, agglomerator, and dedicated down-processing equipment.… Continue reading Facility Expansion to Meet Increasing Demand from Customers
Category: News
Quiet on set! Camera, Action!
Today we felt like movie stars! Team from Estonian national broadcasting company “ERR” was filming our work with e-waste from every angle for a daily show “Ringvaade”. Stay tuned for world premiere! Well, it was hard work, but we are expecting a phone call any minute now from Hollywood.
Celebration of the Victory at the “Science in 3 Minutes” Final Gala 2025
We are proud to share that our colleague Jaan Vihalemm has won the prestigious “Science in 3 Minutes” final gala 2025! 🎉 Jaan’s innovative spirit, clear communication, and passion for science shone brightly on stage, impressing both the judges and the audience. His outstanding presentation on a novel biomining solution for e-waste not only earned… Continue reading Celebration of the Victory at the “Science in 3 Minutes” Final Gala 2025
Final report approved for the upscaling project funded by European Innovation Council
Our upscaling project no 101010499 which was funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) from the Green Deal program 2020 received an approval with very supportive comments in May 2024. The project was a success despite the covid crisis, that prolonged the activities planned for 2 years into 3 years. We did it:-)! We now… Continue reading Final report approved for the upscaling project funded by European Innovation Council
The honor to host the President of Estonia
Last week, a President of Estonia, Mr. Alar Karis honored BiotaTec with a visit to our Biomining Demo Plant, where highly memorable hours were filled with insightful talks and presentations. According to Mr. Alar Karis, President of the Republic, the demand for rare earth elements will only increase during the green transition, but related reserves… Continue reading The honor to host the President of Estonia
Grant from Estonian Business and Innovation Agency
Recently, one of BiotaTec OÜ’s ambitious plans, namely the upscaling of e-waste valorization technology, was supported by the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency, through an applied research program with 1.94 million euros. Outstanding, highest support from given program call was awarded to proposal named „Next-generation bioleaching technology for isolation of precious metals from e-waste and… Continue reading Grant from Estonian Business and Innovation Agency
Upscaling with Phosphogypsum originating from Kola Peninsula’s Apatite
Our BioMining Centre has received an early Xmas gift, actually two! We have received samples from two different types of phosphogypsum (PG), waste that has been generated from processing the Apatite from the Igneous Complex deposit in Kola Peninsula in the 80’ies. Our re-mining solution has proven to be rapid and efficient for extracting valuable… Continue reading Upscaling with Phosphogypsum originating from Kola Peninsula’s Apatite
Joining ERMA
We are thrilled to join ERMA – The European Raw Materials Alliance. ERMA was announced on 3 September 2020, as part of an Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials. We are super-confident, that BiotaTec’s re-mining solutions for extracting value from primary and secondary low-grade ores support strongly the ERMA’s vision to secure access to strategic… Continue reading Joining ERMA
From EIC Fund experts: Go-Go-Go-Go!
Happy to share that we got a strong GO recommendation from #EuropeanInnovationCouncil (#eic) experts for our equity proposal in step 1 evaluation. With the ask of 6,4M€, we plan to increase the number of pilot-scale units in our #BiominingCentre, hire an experienced commercialization team and get our amazing engineers and scientists additional enthusiastic colleagues. Step 2,… Continue reading From EIC Fund experts: Go-Go-Go-Go!
Come and join us as a PhD student!
BiotaTec announces 2 PhD student positions in University of Tartu on the topic of bioleaching-based extraction of critical raw materials from low-grade ores and industrial waste streams. PhD programs will start at 01.09.2022. Candidates are asked to submit motivational letters through SAIS after which selected candidates will be contacted for further interview. For additional information… Continue reading Come and join us as a PhD student!
Slava Ukraini
We strongly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its use of military aggression. The whole team of BiotaTec hereby expresses our support and sympathy towards Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. Warm and kind country Ukraine has been subjected to an idiotic, a senseless and unprovoked military assault decided by the Russian President Putin, who clearly… Continue reading Slava Ukraini
New bench-scale reactors operational
Thanks to our brilliant engineers Kalju Vanatalu, Aivo Arumetsa and Hans Priks, our lab is now equipped with new bench-scale reactors, specially tailored for our needs. Our special gratitude goes to Mart Roos!
Biomining Pilot Units on their way
We are so excited that after a very thorough planning phase the designs of Pilot Units System are ready. 6 reactors with volume of one cubic metre are being built as we prepare impatiently for tests:-).
Our proposal “BiotaMet” won an EIC Accelerator Green Deal grant!
First “Green Deal” funding from European Innovation Council awarded over €307 million to 64 startups from 2071 applicants set to support the recovery plan for Europe. We are very proud and extremely grateful for this highly competitive grant with a success rate of only 2,3% in given Call. The funding of 2,3 million euros will… Continue reading Our proposal “BiotaMet” won an EIC Accelerator Green Deal grant!
Attending PDAC2020 in spirit
Dear friends, partners and customers – due to a hectic situation in fighting Covid-19, our team is present in Toronto is spirit. Our presentation is kindly shown by our amazing supporters from the European Commission DG GROW. Please check the EU booth at PDAC.
Capital Markets for Geologists
Just before the actual FEM19, Sirli attended to a special short cource “Capital Markets for Geologists”. Well, to be honest – our CEO Sirli is not a geologist, but many of her colleagues and dear friends are – so now she understands a bit more what they are speaking about:) This two-day course was presented… Continue reading Capital Markets for Geologists
BiotaTec at FEM19, Levi, Finland
Fantastic connections made at extremely well organized 12th Fennoscandian Exploration and Mining Conference. The biannual FEM, founded in 1998, brings together over thousand exploration and mining industry leaders, experts and researchers from all around the world. This year FEM had 1215 participants from 32 countries. Among other exciting meetings and new acquaintances, we are extremely… Continue reading BiotaTec at FEM19, Levi, Finland
New member of PROMETIA Association
The last PROMETIA General Assembly evaluated positively our application to join PROMETIA Association. PROMETIA is an international non-profit association promoting innovation in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy. PROMETIA brings together diverse players from industry, SMEs, research organizations and academia involved in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy for clean and affordable mining and recycling of raw materials within… Continue reading New member of PROMETIA Association
Kick-off for Biotreatment of Semicoke and Oil Shale
The goal of given exciting R&D project is to determine the optimum conditions of biotreatment with BiotaTec’s microbial consortia in order to lower the content of Sulphur and metals like V, As, etc both in Oil Shale and in Semicoke. The project is implemented together with Oil Shale Competence Centre, AS Viru Keemia Grupp and AS Eesti Energia. The… Continue reading Kick-off for Biotreatment of Semicoke and Oil Shale
Moving the Laboratory
Our BioMining Centre has now been moved successfully to Tartu – the City of Good Thoughts. We are excited to soon start the testing operations in the new location – our BioMining Centre at Riia mnt 23, Tartu. Our neighbors include Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology and Insitute of Genomics of the University of Tartu. The furniture is in… Continue reading Moving the Laboratory
Happy Holidays!
Graduation of EIT Raw Materials Accelerator phase 1
BiotaTec was one of 10 companies to graduate the EIT Raw Materials Accelerator phase 1 in Berlin just before Christmas. The overall objective of the EIT RawMaterials Accelerator program is to increase the success rate of market entry by scalable Start-ups, focusing on addressing market risk. The Accelerator program comprises three phases. Each phase has… Continue reading Graduation of EIT Raw Materials Accelerator phase 1
Raw Materials Week 2018
BiotaTec is glad to participate the whole event of Raw Materials Week 2018 in Brussels – see you there in 12 days! Following the success of the Raw Materials Week 2017, the 3rd edition of the EU “Raw Materials Week” will take place from Monday 12 to Friday 16 November 2018 in Brussels. It builds… Continue reading Raw Materials Week 2018
At the Second International Oil Shale Conference in Jordan
BiotaTec had an honour to give an oral presentation at the Second International Oil Shale Conference ( BAU-SIOSC) in Jordan. Al-Balqa Applied University, along with the local oil shale companies operating in Jordan, hosted the most superb international oil shale conference in the premises of the university in As-Salt city, north-west of Amman. The conference reviewed the development and… Continue reading At the Second International Oil Shale Conference in Jordan
Visiting NTUA
In early September, the team of BiotaTec had an exciting chance to visit the Laboratory of Metallurgy at The National Technical University of Athens. The visit also included a meeting with Mr Efthymios Balomenos, a Senior Researcher at the Raw Materials Exploitation & Sustainable Energy Solution. Major topic covered at the meeting was naturally Greek… Continue reading Visiting NTUA
Information Day on H2020 SC5 2019
We are glad to inform that BiotaTec’s application was approved and participation was granted b organizers for Information Day of Horizon2020 Social Challenge 5 2019 Calls. The event targets potential applicants to the 2019 calls for project proposals under the Horizon 2020 Challenge 5 “Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials”. Information Day is organized by the European… Continue reading Information Day on H2020 SC5 2019
EIC Innovators’ Summit 2018
We received an invitation to a very exciting event – EIC Innovators’ Summit 2018 from The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. We will most certainly be there! On 10-11 September 2018 the EIC Innovators’ Summit will kick off in Berlin with around 1000 top innovators, investors, corporates, gathering for hands-on workshops, relevant matchmaking, an enticing showcase by our… Continue reading EIC Innovators’ Summit 2018
Visiting Rein Palvadre
On the 20th of July, we had the privilege to visit Mr. Rein Palvadre (born in 1934) at his beautiful summer-cottage. After his successful active scientific career from 1959 until 1991, Mr. Palvadre was a Head of Environmental Impact Study Group of mining the Dictyonema Argillite during 1991-1994. During the Soviet times among other topics, Mr. Palvadre studied… Continue reading Visiting Rein Palvadre
Kick-off meeting of LIFE2017 project BiotaWEE
Reydesa Recycling and BiotaTec had a kick-off meeting of LIFE2017- ENV/ES000216 BiotaWEEE project on the 17th of July at the facilities of OTUA Group in Legutio, Spain. The main objective of the project ” Bioleaching of WEEE wastes for the Recovery of Valuable Metals” is to recover valuable metals (mainly Cu, Ag and Au) from the non-metallic fraction of the Printed… Continue reading Kick-off meeting of LIFE2017 project BiotaWEE
Conference of The Geological Survey of Estonia
The Geological Survey of Estonia organized a conference “The first year of the georesource policy – ways of strengthening of research and management” on May 14, 2018 In the most exciting event, BiotaTec was happy to present the updates of our developments in the Biomining World.The fundamentals of the Estonian geo-resource policy until 2050 were endorsed… Continue reading Conference of The Geological Survey of Estonia
Happy Birthday, dear Estonia!
The Republic of Estonia will celebrate its 100th anniversary on February 24, 2018. The centenary is marked from April 2017 to February 2020. Calendar of international centenary celebrations
Raw Material Week 2017
Our CEO Mrs. Sirli Sipp Kulli will attend the Raw Material Week 2017 taking place in Brussels from Monday 6 to Friday 10 November 2017. The Raw Materials Week is centered around a series of events organised by the European Commission addressing the latest news regarding raw materials in the EU. Do join to say “hello”!
SME successes in EU programmes
National Contact Points for Climate action, Raw materials, Environment and Resource Efficiency – NCPs CaRE has just put together a presentation of success stories in H2020 Societal Challenge 5. We at BiotaTec are proud to be on the list with the H2020 Instrument phase 1 project BiotaMet!
Nature-based Solutions – NBS2017 in Tallinn
Mrs. Anne Menert will share BiotaTec’s work with presentation “Nature-based Solutions for valorization of Estonian Black Shale” at NBS2017. As part of the Presidency of the Estonian Republic of the Council of the European Union, a flagship conference “Nature-based Solutions: From Innovation to Common-use” will organized by the Ministry of the Environment of Estonia and the University of… Continue reading Nature-based Solutions – NBS2017 in Tallinn
Welcome Mr. Anastasios Kladis
We are very excited and happy to announce that Mr. Anastasios Kaldis is joining BiotaTec team as a coach via Horizon 2020 SME Instrument support programm starting from 4th of October 2017. Mr. Kladis owns extensive more than twenty years’ experience in Industrial Minerals business: Resources Evaluation and Development, Joint Ventures, Co-specialization alliances, Business Development, Corporate… Continue reading Welcome Mr. Anastasios Kladis
BiotaTec at 22nd International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium
From 24th-27th of Sept our team attended the biannual International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium (IBS) that is the global forum for experts from academia and industry active in the fields of biomining, bioleaching and bioremediation. The IBS 2017 was held in Freiberg in Saxony. Freiberg has been a centre of the mining industry for centuries and is… Continue reading BiotaTec at 22nd International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium
Agreement signed
European Commission authorities have signed the grant agreement related to BiotaTec application (nº782070) titled “Feasibility study on nature based innovative more efficient 2-step bioleaching technology producing methane gas and metal compounds from low grade multimetallic European black shales or wastes containing organo-metallic complexes”. Project application was submitted to the topic “Dedicated support to biotechnology SMEs… Continue reading Agreement signed
Grant from EU Horizon 2020
We are very proud and excited to share the excellent results received from the evaluation process of our application in Horizon 2020 SME Instrument-1-2016-2017 call. Our proposal received score as high as 4,71 in scale of “1-5” i.e. “very good to excellent”. The grant is awarded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under… Continue reading Grant from EU Horizon 2020
Symposia “Let’s discuss about Argillite”
In fall 2014 BiotaTec organized a symposium at the Academy of Sciences, the whole-day event that was actively participated by representatives of authorities, scientific community and business sector. For the first time in almost 30 years long period the focus was on possibilities to start again investigating Estonian Dictyonema Argillite. Distinguished researchers like Ello Maremäe and Rein Palvadre presented results… Continue reading Symposia “Let’s discuss about Argillite”