Kurt Aasly

Kurt Aasly is an Associate Professor in Process Mineralogy at the Department of Geoscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He specializes in mineral characterization, geometallurgy, and marine mineral resource management. His research focuses on unconventional mineral deposits, concrete durability issues related to sulfide minerals, and valorization of mine tailings for critical raw materials.

Current projects include AVANTIS (vanadium/titanium extraction), EMINENT (energy minerals for net-zero transition), and Safe Use of Local Aggregates in Concrete. He has supervised numerous PhD candidates, including Nikolas Oberhardt (concrete sulfide analysis) and Nikita Malafeevskiy (tailings revalorization).

Key research areas span automated mineralogy applications, deep-sea mining technologies, and optimizing industrial mineral production flowsheets. Notable contributions include studies on pyrrhotite degradation mechanisms in concrete aggregates and mineralogical approaches to rare earth element recovery.

• Labs/Teams: Norwegian Laboratory for Mineral and Materials Characterisation (MiMaC), AVANTIS Project Team
• Grants/Advising: Main supervisor for 3 ongoing PhDs, co-supervisor for 1, with completed theses on geometallurgical workflows and flotation optimization