Research News
Underground group photo during the founding event. From left to right: Minister of Science for the Federal State of Saxony Sabine von Schorlemer, Bernd Meyer, Vice-Chancellor of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Federal Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan, President of the Helmholtz Association Jürgen Mlynek, Jens Gutzmer, Director of the Helmholtz Institute, HZDR Scientific Director Roland Sauerbrey, Prime Minister of the Federal State of Saxony Stanislaw Tillich. Photo: TU Bergakademie Freiberg/Lutz Weidler
Newly Established: Helmholtz Institute Freiberg
On 29 August 2011, founding director Prof. Dr Jens Gutzmer received a symbolic silver key from the hands of Federal Research Minister Prof. Dr Annette Schavan and the Prime Minister of the Federal State of Saxony, Stanislaw Tillich. This event marked the official establishment of the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology. It is located on the campus of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg as a branch institute of the Helmholtz Centre Dresden-Rossendorf.
The new Helmholtz Institute will focus on high-tech metals, such as gallium, indium, germanium and lithium or the rare earth elements. These are important raw materials for the electronics industry, in particular also for innovative energy technologies. "Considering the limited availability of resources and the simultaneously increasing demand, it will become more and more important to use raw materials in an efficient manner. The Helmholtz Institute set itself the goal of providing the industry with corresponding technologies subject to the criteria of economy and ecology. These technologies are aimed at enabling the exploitation of new raw material deposits, but also serve in exploiting deposits with a complex structure as well as hitherto unused resources. For instance, we intend to look into the recycling of electronic products or the treatment of valuable waste products containing metal that are a byproduct of mining activities", says Prof. Dr Jens Gutzmer, Director of the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg. An important third key function will be the training of skilled employees as well as promoting the general and continued education and training of foreign specialists and professionals in the resource sector. Leading positions at the new Helmholtz Institute Freiberg are to be joint appointments by the TU Bergakademie and the Helmholtz Centre Dresden-Rossendorf. The Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology currently is located on the Saxonia compound in Freiberg, the former Deutsches Brennstoffinstitut (German Combustibles Institute). By the end of 2011, the institute is to have 20 members of staff. The first scientists already have taken up work and concentrate on the analysis of mineral and metalliferous materials as well as on the extraction and recycling of rare earth elements and other recycleables by way of biotechnological processes. The staff is to increase to about 100 employees over the course of the next four years. An advisory council appointed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) evaluated the Resource Institute’s scientific concept in the past year and rated it very positively. Another prerequisite for the successful conversion into a Helmholtz institute is a good "Helmholtz fit". "The scientific spectrum of the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg is a perfect match for the mission of the Helmholtz Association to safeguard the future through research," notes Prof. Dr Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association.
