Assuring the Future Supply of Raw Materials
Fourth Freiberg Innovations Symposium, April 19/20, 2012

Joint Press Release by Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and TU Bergakademie Freiberg published on Feb 21, 2012

How the German economy may be assured a sustained supply of the strategic resources it will need in the future is the topic of the Fourth Freiberg Innovations Symposium which will be hosted by the TU Bergakademie Freiberg and the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology on April 19 and 20, 2012, in the Alte Mensa located at Petersstraße 5 in Freiberg, Germany.

“Our future success in the key industrial branches automobile, machine, and plant construction as well as chemical technologies here in Germany will depend essentially on the availability of such strategically important resources as copper, gallium, or rare earths,” says Prof. Jens Gutzmer, Director of the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology and Professor of Economic Geology and Petrology at the TU Bergakademie. These raw materials are indispensable for the development and production of high quality commodities at the industrial location Germany. That’s why a long-term strategy to safeguard and assure raw materials is of vital interest to the German economy and a prerequisite for effective future risk management.

New developments in raw materials research and sustainable resource concepts are to be advanced further and promoted at the research venue Freiberg both by the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, the University of Resources, and the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology.

The Fourth Freiberg Innovations Symposium will be held in Freiberg under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). In addition to presenting the latest research results and approaches of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg and the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, leading German enterprises will provide insights into their raw materials management. The agenda focuses on the following four topics: 1) Raw Materials Management, 2) Primary Raw Materials (which are extracted from the earth), 3) Secondary Raw Materials (which are processed and, thus, reusable), and 4) Recycling as well as Processing and Products.

In addition to the 19 contributions from the research venue Freiberg and the German business community, there will also be presentations held by, for example, Prof. Juri Woitechowski from the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Prof. Patrick Taylor from the US American Colorado School of Mines.

The event, which has been held since 2002, addresses decision makers from industry, government, and science and communicates current developments in providing effective future risk management for strategic raw materials; thus, making a vital contribution towards solving the most urgent questions of our times.


For more information, please contact:

Prof. Jens Gutzmer
Director of the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology
Phone: +49 351 260-4400 


Press Contact

Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
Anja Weigl
Phone: +49 351 260-2452

TU Bergakademie Freiberg
Cornelia Riedel
Press Officer
Phone: +49 3731 392355