Global warming is real and climate change is worsening day-by-day with , and taking place across Canada. Meanwhile, the carbon-zero transition required to move away from such a dire future is hampered by a key weakness — “critical minerals.”
The depends on so-called minerals to be successful — minerals which must be mined or recycled. Smart phones, , and even the all rely heavily upon critical minerals. Demand for these minerals is set to .
However, the uncomfortable reality is that the supply of these metals is simply not there, and their extraction carries huge social and ecological risks. This problem affects us all.
What are critical minerals?
There is no universal consensus on what critical minerals are. Various countries and bodies such as the or the have different lists and the contents of these lists do not remain static.
For instance, the contains 31 minerals or mineral groups. The United States has two lists: the that contains 50 individual minerals and the , which adds energy materials like copper and silicon. The European Union has a list of 34 .
The term “critical mineral” is technically a misnomer as most of the elements on these lists are metals and not minerals. However, there are : most lists include battery metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper, as well as rare earth elements and platinum group metals. Other common elements are the alloys of steel, such as chromium, manganese and zinc.
All of these elements are crucial to the energy transition. Battery metals power electric vehicles and storage batteries, steel and rare earth elements are imperative for wind turbines and copper is essential for power grids. Simply put, shortages in critical minerals mean a delayed energy transition and worsening .
Yet electric vehicles are only as “clean” as the electricity grid that feeds them. They are only as “green” as their component parts. The batteries require nickel, which could well have come from . Meanwhile, the vital cobalt can’t be separated from the human miseries of mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — a mining industry referred to as “.”
Why are critical minerals problematic?
Critical minerals are often found , and in their processing and supply. This means that can make it harder to secure .
A maps ecosystem risks arising from a lack of supply in critical minerals. Its conclusions are clear.
Not only does a await us at the end of the road, but the signposts along the way indicate that these risks are already playing out.
For instance, political risks identified include , and increasing . Among the economic risks are , as well as of critical minerals.
Socio-environmental risks comprise an and a , while technological risks point to cascading .
The impacts of critical minerals mining
When considering the implications of minerals shortages, it may be tempting to justify critical minerals mining at all costs, however, this is a dangerous fallacy. The of poorly mined critical minerals are dire.
These range from in the fragile landscapes of the Chilean Atacama desert to the toxic processes inherent in the processing of the whose use is ubiquitous in smart technology and wind turbines. mean ever bigger tailings dams, and climate change makes them more prone to accidents.
For Indigenous communities, and peril. that critical minerals are often heavily concentrated on Indigenous lands. For them, the question arises whether this will open the door to or if it will constitute yet another instance of on their doorstep.
The importance of independent standards authorities such as the (IRMA) cannot be overemphasized. In contrast to industry standards such as , IRMA represents multiple stakeholder views. These include communities, employees, investors and mines.
Mining is by its very nature a process. While it is expensive and technically complex to retrofit existing mines for electrification purposes, new mines should be designed with carbon neutrality in mind. Of course, this can be particularly difficult in places that are experiencing , such as .
Greenfield mining is not the sole solution to the critical minerals conundrum. (extraction from electronic waste) can play an important role. It’s also important to design products manufactured from critical minerals with in mind.
By investing in research and development, we can to the most problematic minerals, whether the underlying issues are geopolitical constraints, toxicity or human rights abuses.
The bottom line
At the end of the day, we need responsible mining practices that will enable us to obtain the minerals required to make the energy transition work. However, we must do so in a way that is just and equitable towards both people and the planet.
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This goal is a race against time, requiring both innovation and a never-ending vigilance against a lowering of standards to meet short-term needs — a vigilance which we all must work to maintain.
Elizabeth Steyn previously received funding from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). She is affiliated with the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) and the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law (FNREL). She is a board member of the Canadian Institute of Resources Law (CIRL).
