Aberdeen Minerals is a private company investing in geological exploration for nickel, copper and cobalt sulphide mineral deposits in North East Scotland. Nickel and cobalt are classified by the UK Government as “critical minerals” and copper is a “growth mineral”. The Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy (November 2025) targets at least 10% of annual UK demand for critical minerals to be met through domestic production (primary extraction, processing and refining of critical minerals) by 2035.
The company is currently being financed by a multi-million pounds investment by a mining industry investor, Central Asia Metals Plc. Drilling and geophysical investigations are ongoing at the Arthrath Project in Aberdeenshire, intended to identify and delineate subsurface zones with sufficiently high levels of metal concentration to support a long-term mine development.
Nickel, copper and cobalt at Arthrath occur in sulphide mineral deposits comprising primarily of the minerals pyrrhotite, pentlandite (nickel-cobalt host) and chalcopyrite (copper host). The conventional processing route for this deposit typeis to produce a sulphide mineral concentrate at the mine site, which is sold onward to a smelter for further processing. As there are no smelters in the UK, future concentrate production would need to be shipped overseas meaning that these nickel, copper and cobalt critical raw materials would be lost from UK domestic supply chains.
Further drawbacks with processing via a smelter include: recovery losses to achieve smelter quality concentrates; economic losses through payability rates and penalty elements; loss of cobalt during smelting; transport costs; environmental impacts.
Significant amounts of nickel, copper and cobalt at lower concentration levels have already been delineated at Arthrath within zones that may eventually be considered un- or sub-economic using conventional processing methods.
The challenge is therefore to develop an alternative processing route to recover and refine the critical raw materials domestically, enabling direct supply to UK industry, reducing reliance on overseas production and mitigating the environmental and social impacts of raw material supply chains.
Improving the overall economics of a mineral development at Arthrath will accelerate the project’s development, bring forward the creation of skilled jobs and enhance the project’s investability and financial performance.
Further commercialisation of a solution could also be possible across other UK / European / global nickel sulphide projects.
Who can apply?
Entrants to this competition must be:
- Established businesses, academic institutions, start-ups, SMEs, or individual entrepreneurs
- UK based or have the intention to set up a UK base
- Experienced in sulphide mineral processing and hydrometallurgy.
The Challenge
The challenge is to identify mineral processing methods to extract and refine nickel, copper and cobalt products from sulphide mineral concentrates from North East Scotland.
The solution will enable recovery of metals from low-grade ores in a way that is more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable than conventional smelting and refining, and should produce saleable intermediate products suitable for further refining within the UK, or directly refine industry-ready products such as nickel and cobalt sulphate salts for the lithium-ion battery sector.
This is one of three iX challenges currently open within the Climates sector alongside Critical material recovery from e-waste recycling process by-products and Metal recovery from wastewater integrated hydrogen production systems.
Rewards & Market Opportunity
Successful applicants will be given an opportunity to pitch to Aberdeen Minerals.
Selected solution(s) maybe trialled by Aberdeen Minerals with the possibility of further development through pilot scale trials. There are opportunities to collaboratively apply for innovation / R&D funding / scale-up grants to develop the technology and overall flowsheet.
If the project is feasible, there is potential for significant commercial impact through future UK critical raw material production, and further commercialisation across other UK / European / global nickel sulphide projects.
The UK market for nickel & cobalt battery materials is projected by 2035 to be worth over US$1 billion, and the EU market over US$12 billion.
The benefits package for a successful applicant may also include:
- Support from Innovate UK Business Connect
- Support in the development of a prototype or pilot
- Technical support
- Invitation to attend or present at Innovate UK Business Connect events
- A potential business collaboration
- Investor introductions (if investment is required)
- Support if any Innovate or similar competitions are relevant.
Accessibility and Inclusion
Innovate UK welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.