The CRM-geothermal Final Conference will be an in-person event organised in cooperation with GeoTHERM 2026 in Offenburg (Germany) on 25 February 2026, from 13:00 to 17:00 CET. Participation in the CRM-geothermal Final Conference is free and doesn’t require a badge for the GeoTHERM event.
The CRM-geothermal side event takes place on the day before the Conference GeoTHERM (26-27 February 2026) and it concludes in time for participants to join the traditional GeoTHERM Ice-Breaker at 18:30 on 25 February 2026. The participation in the GeoTHERM Icebreaker event is not included when registering for the CRM-geothermal Final Conference.
During this final project conference, the consortium and invited speakers will present the project’s key findings in three thematic sessions:
- Session 1: Content, origin, and mobility of Critical Raw Materials (CRM) in geothermal fluids across different geological settings
- Session 2: Extraction methods for CRM from geothermal fluids
- Session 3: Economic, social, and governance aspects of CRM co-production
The EU-funded project CRM-Geothermal pursues a holistic approach to the evaluation and extraction of critical raw materials from geothermal fluids in Europe and East Africa. Its objectives are as follows:
- (I) To assess the overall potential, a database was established and the collected fluid data have been visualized in a fluid atlas.
- (II) The origin and mobilization of CRMs were investigated for different geological settings (e.g., in crystalline, fractured rock or in deep sedimentary basins where high-salinity waters circulate through porous formations) to make predictions about the occurrence and sustainability of extraction during fluid circulation.
- (III) Innovative extraction technologies have been developed for some CRMs, such as lithium, strontium, and helium, for different fluid types.
- (IV) Furthermore, economic, social, and environmental aspects of the processes have been considered, and finally
- (V) The feasibility of CRM co-extraction are demonstrated at one site (Cornwall).