Extractive Waste as a Resource: Quartz, Feldspars, and Rare Earth Elements from Gneiss Quarries of the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Province (Piedmont, Northern Italy)

The growing demand for raw materials requires the optimization of extractive processes and innovative approaches, such as recovery quarrying processing waste. Waste from gneiss (ranging blocks up to residual sludge) used dimension stone (Beola Serizzo Piedmont, northern Italy) were characterized chemistry, mineralogy, petrography: quartz feldspars (plagioclase K-feldspar) are most abundant minerals, followed by micas (biotite minor muscovite) traces chlorite epidote (allanite). Quartz could be reused in industrial minerals sector, especially ceramics industry; depending on purity requirements materials, some mica separation treatments may required. critical issues relate small grain size relative abundance commercial varieties. presence allanite opens new possibilities rare earth elements (REE, materials).