BLOOM project successfully completes its first periodic review meeting

On 7 and 8 July 2026, the BLOOM project consortium gathered in Barcelona and Manresa to hold the project's first Periodic Review Meeting with representatives from the European Commission. The meeting brought together partners from Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Slovenia, Ukraine and other participating countries to review the progress achieved during the first reporting period and to define the roadmap for the next phase of the project.

The first day, hosted at the Campus Nord of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), focused on the technical review of the work carried out across the project's work packages. Consortium partners presented the main achievements obtained during this initial monitoring period, highlighting progress in mineral characterisation, process development, sensor engineering, pilot plant design, digital technologies and techno-economic assessment. The discussions confirmed that the project is progressing according to plan and provided valuable feedback for the forthcoming pilot-scale activities.

The second day took place at the UPC ProMineral Lab in Manresa, where consortium members and reviewers visited the BLOOM project's new containerised pilot plant and laboratory facilities. The programme included technical presentations on the design, construction, implementation and commissioning of the pilot plant, as well as demonstrations of the Mineral Liberation Analysis (MLA) workflow and its contribution to advanced mineral characterisation. Participants also had the opportunity to observe the integrated infrastructure and technologies that will support the project's future demonstration campaigns.

The success of this first Periodic Review Meeting represents an important milestone for the BLOOM project, reinforcing collaboration among consortium partners and strengthening their commitment to developing innovative technologies for a more efficient and sustainable recovery and processing of critical raw materials, thereby contributing to European strategic autonomy and the transition towards a more circular economy.