Climate goes metal, by the continents
News in mining for the metals in climate tech
Climate technologies require enormous amounts of metal. I’m Ian Morse, and this is Green Rocks, a newsletter that doesn’t want dirty mining to ruin clean energy.
It’s been a while since I’ve done a round-up. There’s always a lot happening in the mining world, but I’ve narrowed the scope to the extraction related to climate technologies. Feel free to suggest your own in the comments.
Asia–Australia–Pacific
Aboriginal groups say the Northern Territory government and a lead and zinc mine have misused funds that were intended for traditional owners.
Nauru, which sponsors Canada-based DeepGreen to mine the deep ocean, has triggered a rule that will force a regulatory body to consider mining permits in two years.
An 84-year-old priest who had led land rights and anti-mining campaigns in Jharkhand, India, died in police custody after courts denied him bail despite health conditions.
Activists have filed a lawsuit in Indonesia challenging new mining laws that they say would lead to unbridled exploitation by an industry that “already operates with impunity toward environmental and social rules.”
Indonesian fishers occupied an offshore tin mining ship as they ramp up their opposition to expanding production and its impact in the water.
Protesters in Tasmania are demanding a tailings storage facility find a different home, away from Australia’s largest tract of rainforest.
Bougainville community members reached an agreement with Rio Tinto to evaluate the legacy of its now-shut Panguna copper mine.
Americas
Brazil has announced its own list of strategic minerals for which it may ease project licensing.
A man who had long opposed a foreign mine in his Mexican town was found dead with signs of torture. Activists have called for an investigation, as has the mine’s owner, Newmont, which said the death was unrelated to the mine.
BHP’s Cerro Colorado copper mine was ordered to redo its environmental plan after a court found it had failed to consider impacts on water.
A Peruvian family, whose farm stood in the way of a Newmont mine, is challenging a rule in US court that allows companies to litigate in foreign courts rather than in the US.
New studies are revealing that water sources have become toxic around a Glencore copper mine in Peru.
A report commissioned by the Liard Aboriginal Women’s Society found that women at mining camps in northern Canada are often assigned menial jobs, which have made them more vulnerable to sexual harassment.
Glencore, which believes its mines are crucial to renewable energy, is buying a coal mine in Colombia.
The US government is supporting a land swap pushed through Congress in 2014 that would give sacred Native land to a Rio Tinto/BHP copper project.
General Motors is investing big to find US sources of lithium for its EV rebranding.
Volkswagen and Daimler are backing an environmental study of lithium operations in Chile, in an effort to boost a green image in Europe.
A lithium miner that struck a deal with Tesla has failed to obtain proper local permits in North Carolina, where it “overlooked” locals.
Two Tribes have asked a court to prevent a lithium mine from excavating the bones of their ancestors in Nevada. Previously, a similar environmentalists’ request not to dig was denied.
Copper traders are worried that disgruntled workers on strike across Chile will disturb their cash.
Europe–Africa
A former company doctor has said that Anglo American knew about lead poisoning from a Zambian mine it had a stake in until 1974. Locals demand compensation and clean up in a lawsuit.
An Australian miner is sticking with a rare earths project in Greenland, even though the government has declared its opposition.
Botswana, long reliant on diamond mining, is diversifying with its first iron ore mine project.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s state cobalt buyer is setting a price floor for the metal it buys from artisanal miners and a fund that would cover the difference if global prices drop below that point.
After Namibia refused to renew a Canada-based copper miner’s prospecting license, the company sued the government. The initial refusal cited delays.
A UK-based analyst suggests several rare earths projects in African countries may be risky because governments can suspend projects when they want.
After evidence surfaced that Rio Tinto collaborated with the Serbian government appropriate land, the company is beginning its lithium project with a pilot plant.
General
A Human Rights Watch report found that aluminum is a “blind spot” for the car industry’s push toward EVs. From mines to refineries to smelters, they say, companies need to do much more to match the green image of EVs.
An MIT spinoff is promoting a battery that could release energy for remote mining projects, helping wean mines off diesel power.
Reads
≠ endorsement
Mining holds the key to a green future – no wonder human rights activists are worried (The Guardian)
Mining industry’s ‘green metals’ are a fallacy, experts say (The Globe and Mail)
Lauren Redniss and the Art of the Indescribable (The New Yorker)
The Canadian Mining Company Dominicans Call “Worse Than Columbus” (Jacobin)
The US wants to make EV batteries without these foreign metals. Should it? (Grist)
A Mining Startup’s Rush for Underwater Metals Comes With Deep Risks (Bloomberg)
Peru’s indigenous hope for a voice, at last, under new president (Reuters)
Forgotten tin tops energy transition metals leader-board (Reuters)
Pressure mounts to halt deep-sea mining (Financial Times)
Lithium-ion batteries need to be greener and more ethical (Nature)
Recycling: a key in the U.S. quest for lithium-ion battery supply chain relevancy (PV Magazine)
Global demand for manganese puts Kayapó Indigenous land under pressure (Mongabay)
Scientists are mining metals from an unusual source — plants (Grist)
Breaking free from mining – A 2050 blueprint (Seas at Risk)
Canadian miner looms large as Nauru expedites key deep-sea mining rules (Me for Mongabay)
So called green energy requires more resources, AKA- minerals and land, than FF or nuclear; and therefore, more oil and gas energy and byproducts for mining and processing the minerals. Green energy does not use the energy rich fuel that FF or nuclear does, so it will take more resources, including land, with associated environmental consequences.
Trying to tame the mining associated with this is like trying to make a house pet of a Tasmanian Devil. Green energy will never be sustainable as it is energy poor and energy inefficient and therefore will take more dirty mining in order to satisfy the government's draconian mandates on the premise of anthropogenic climate change. It's economics and mineral availability!
So, you want to lessen the impacts of mining? It will take 4th Gen nuclear for the workhouse of energy resources with new developments in materials and upgrading of energy usage components like housing and appliances.
And government can't solve this. The best solution is to remove all the most oppressive, unreasonable draconian government regulations and let the private industry and free market decide. Progressive government hardly ever fixes anything! Why? Because big government is for bigger government and self-sustaining itself!