A mining vote in Ecuador, Indonesia dumps dumping plans
News in mining for clean energy 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.
In the last few years, Ecuador has become a ‘frontier’ for mineral exploration. Underneath dense rainforests, rich soil, and 17 million people, there’s a lot of gold and copper. Metal-heavy climate technologies like EVs have given miners added confidence that the country could support many large-scale projects. Copper, politicians say, could revive an economy in pandemic recession.
On Sunday, Cuenca, a city surrounded by dozens of mining concessions, held a vote: Should companies be allowed to mine near rivers that pass through the city? For campaigners, mines threatened a clean water supply.
“In Cuenca, the water won,” the mayor tweeted on Monday. Four in five of voters, the mayor said, didn’t want mining to happen near them. In nearby Girón in 2019, 87% of voters told miners to look elsewhere for metal. In 2018, voters throughout the country chose to ban mining in protected and urban areas.
Sunday’s referendum took place as residents were also voting for a new president in a historic election, in which an anti-mining Indigenous activist is likely to proceed to the run-off election. Ecuador is charting new territory as oil declines and metals seek to replace it.
Metal goes Climate
Nickel
Battery nickel projects in Indonesia won’t dump their waste into the ocean. The policy comes after protests in the country and within the EV industry to ensure a key component of batteries would not do more harm to the planet and communities. Now, companies need to figure out how to manage tailings on earthquake-prone islands.
Meanwhile, Tesla is preparing to submit an investment proposal for a Indonesian lithium-ion battery hub. Pius Ginting, a researcher and activist, said “As our government enters into negotiations with Tesla this week, we reiterate that Indonesia’s nickel battery production must be built on strong environmental and social protections, which includes no deep sea tailings disposal or coal fired power plants.”
Norilsk, the world’s largest nickel and palladium producer, will be fined $2 billion for a fuel spill in the Russian Arctic last year.
Deep-sea mining
The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) says in a new report that deep-sea mining is “an avoidable environmental disaster.” Companies say only seabed mining can sustainably produce the minerals needed for EVs and other climate technologies. In a statement, the WWF said: “We don’t have to trash the ocean to decarbonize. Instead, we should be directing our focus toward innovation and the search for less resource-intensive products and processes.”
Australia’s Northern Territory, home to vast mines on land, will permanently ban seabed mining in its waters, where Aboriginal groups have been demanding protection for sacred sites.
Aluminum
People are starting to buy “green” aluminum, meaning metal that is produced without emitting as much CO2 as others. Mostly this means it’s not smelting on natural gas or coal power, but rather on hydroelectricity or others. Check out my piece in PV Magazine for background on the aluminum conundrum.
Copper
Mongolia wants to cancel a deal that is rapidly going south with Rio Tinto to expand its copper mine there. The deal was never approved by parliament, and a new government would like to receive more revenue from the mine. It’s working with the multinational to end it amicably.
Pebble Mine executives looking to develop Alaska’s copper deposit have been served subpoenas for a ongoing investigation. They were secretly recorded last year saying that had close contact with politicians who could seal the deal.
200 conservation, Indigenous, religious and business groups sent a letter to US president Biden, urging him to walk back the land exchange that gave the sacred site Oak Flat to a copper miner. The Apache Stronghold has so far filed three lawsuits to stop the mine, and AZ Central covered the group’s tearful testimony in court earlier this month.
Iron
Vale agreed to pay a Brazilian state government $7 billion for the deadly Brumadinho collapse more than two years ago. The money will likely go to local infrastructure rebuilding, although families of victims continue to demand greater compensation and accountability. The amount was less than the state initially requested, but still the largest settlement in Brazilian history.
Prefer Webinars?
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals include no mention on minerals or mining, even though agriculture, fishing, and forest management are described in detail. And contrary to what many people think (including me), most minerals mined are not metals but rather things like sand and gravel, driven by local employment and investment, for local use and local benefit. These are the ‘development minerals’ described by Daniel Franks of the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Mining Institute.
I wasn’t able to make this one, but the recordings on online are just as insightful. For a full quarter of the talk, we hear from miners around the world. Check out the full playlist of talks on the materials for ‘sustainable development.’
Reads
≠ endorsement
Why the US must support the electric vehicle supply chain (The Hill)
How the race for renewable energy is reshaping global politics (Financial Times)
The US is taking steps towards breaking China’s rare earths monopoly (Quartz)
Renewable energy’s human rights risks (Innovation Forum Podcast)
The Gilded Age (The Atavist)
Thanks for reading! I’m Ian Morse, and this is Green Rocks, a newsletter that doesn’t want dirty mining to ruin clean energy.
These topics are relevant to anyone who consumes energy. If you know someone like that, pass this along!