Climate goes Metal | News Round-up #48
Climate goes Metal | News Round-up #48
What is Saudi Arabia doing? Plus monk activism, zinc batteries, and how copper can ease a shortfall.
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.
Saudi Arabia is getting into climate minerals
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and state mining company Ma’aden are on a globetrotting tour. They’ve placed investments in various mining companies related to the energy transition and have expressed interest in others. Here’s a few of their moves:
They’ve taken a 10% stake in Vale.
They’ve expressed interest in Barrick’s Reko Diq copper and gold mine.
They’ve partnered with the aggressive Ivanhoe to explore minerals within Saudi Arabia.
With the US, they’re looking to buy into mines in African countries.
(Also, we’ve already logged a few moves by Saudi Arabia, and you can find these in the Green Rocks Map.)
News round-up in mining for the climate
In addition to the historic Ecuador referendum to halt oil drilling in the Amazon, citizens in Quito also voted to ban gold mining form a nature preserve close to the capital.
The Bureau of Land Management said it made a mistake when it approved lithium drilling near a federally protected area in Nevada. Drilling has been paused.
Tasmanian residents are concerned that the push for mineral exploration will take away valuable farmland.
Lawyers with Western Australia are in court defending the state’s decision not to give mining compensation to Native peoples in the Pilbara.
Monks in Australia are organizing community members to oppose mining exploration in the Jarrah forest.
A landslide at a jade mine in Myanmar killed 25 people, with more than a dozen missing.
Indonesia, whose mining industry is heavily tied to China, has proposed a deal to trade nickel with the US.
Glencore’s second lithium investment is in the Democratic Republic of Congo (its first was in Argentina).
The UK appears may be considering striking lithium chemicals from a list of toxic materials, to the benefit of a domestic lithium refining industry.
The Biden administration said that reforming the country’s 150-year-old mining law was necessary to ensure “responsibly sourced” minerals.
Vale tried to avoid liability for the 2015 collapse of a tailings dam in Brazil, but the dam’s co-owner, BHP convinced a court that it should share any potential liability.
A US judge dismissed Antofagasta’s case to restore nickel and copper mining leases in Minnesota.
Panama workers reached an agreement with Canadian First Quantum metals to avoid a strike at its flagship copper mine.
An alliance of Pacific Ocean countries agreed to a moratorium on deep-sea mining in their jurisdictions.
BHP’s chief executive said that after spending millions on improving safety for women, the company saw a 20% increase in sexual harassment reports.
The Taliban in Afghanistan said it has signed mining deals worth $6.5 billion.
A Swedish court rejected appeals to prevent a graphite mine, granting a victory to an Australian company that says it could supply enough graphite for two million cars in Europe. Reports didn’t say who lodged the appeals, but the project is in Sámi country.
Europe’s top copper producer reported theft of scrap metal worth roughly $500 million.
Chile has launched a probe into the death of three mine workers at two mines on the same day in August.
Amid ongoing conflict with communities over tailings leaks, water contamination and wildlife destruction, Rio Tinto inked a new deal with its government partner at their mine in Madagascar that includes a royalty increase from 2% to 2.5%.
Sweden unveiled plans to revoke its uranium mining ban, saying nuclear is the only reliable non-fossil fuel energy option.
The Peruvian government met with dozens of mining companies to discuss removing roadblocks to permitting.
Peruvian authorities have been destroying illegal gold mining camps in the Amazon.
The US Department of Defense has granted Albemarle $90 million to support its North Carolina lithium mine, and Talon Metals $20 million to explore nickel in Minnesota.
UK scientists are demanding that the prime minister support a moratorium on seabed mining.
Malaysia is developing a policy to ban exports of unprocessed rare earth materials, emulating Indonesia’s ban on nickel.
An Australian company received this year a permit to begin building a zinc and lead mine a wetland site protected under the Ramsar Convention in Algeria.
The US Department of Energy is investing almost $400 million into zinc-bromine batteries as an alternative to lithium-ion.
Research and Reports
Mining has severely affected 35,000 km of large tropical rivers and 24,000 km of small ones. Sediment released through deforestation and digging can turn rivers orange, prevent sunlight from penetrating, contaminate wildlife with dangerous metals, and alter the flow of rivers.
A Swedish media researcher interrogated her country’s climate propaganda that simultaneously promoted the mining industry.
An S&P Global report, authored by Daniel Yergin, suggests that the IRA has reshaped the landscape for minerals in electrification, bringing new challenges as well as opportunities.
A report by BMO Capital Markets outlined ways that the copper industry could stave off shortfall by using less and substituting with other materials.
Amnesty International details how expanding multinational firms is forcing locals in the Congo from their land.
A US national lab is confident that a more sustainable type of cathode could achieve high energy density and rapid commercialization within a few years.
A study modeling the mineral requirements of different electrification scenarios advised caution about current trajectories, noting that heavy-duty vehicles would hog 62% of mineral demand, despite being at most 11% of the global fleet.
Reads
≠endorsement
How to avoid a green-metals crunch (The Economist)
Why e-bike companies are embracing recycling while fighting repair (Grist)
Europe’s mining quest faces a hurdle: angry locals (Reuters)
Despite reforms, mining for EV metals in Congo exacts steep cost on workers (Washington Post)
Would an occasional blackout help solve climate change? (Los Angeles Times)
As EVs surge, so does nickel mining’s death toll (Rest of World)
Why US v China is failing the world (me for PV Magazine)
New Arizona mines unearth new conflicts: resist climate change or protect fragile landscapes? (Arizona Central)
The race to ditch Russian uranium starts in New Mexico’s desert (Bloomberg)
In the race to mine the seabed, China takes a hard line (Bloomberg)
Mines for climate-friendly technologies face growing water scarcity in the West (NPR)
Series from Earth Island Journal:
Financial Tmes series: The battery revolution