Circular economy or circular society?
Circular economy or circular society?
News round-up on the materials behind the energy transition
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.
Issues with mining can seem intractable, especially for those of us who aren’t directly involved in scooping ore out of the ground or building one of these climate technologies.
In tackling these issues, many people have trained the spotlight on industry. Where can pressure be applied to make a mine better manage its waste? What incentives can encourage EV or solar panel makers to pay attention to their raw materials?
A report out yesterday widens the focus. Materials are mined because people want to buy them, companies say. How should consumers think about their material footprint in the grand plan to clean up energy?
The report, a collaboration between UK NGOs War on Want and London Mining Network and groups in Indonesia and the Philippines, grew out of a concern that the energy transition could lead to a dramatic increase in the extraction of minerals from poorer parts of the world. Miners have already leveraged the green narrative of climate action and branded themselves as crucial to a sustainable future. The authors, however, believe that more mining is not always the answer.
There are opportunities to recycle, and those commonly fit into the image of ‘circular economy.’ Products at the end of their lives are broken down into their materials and re-injected into the same economy that produced them. What enters the economy never leaves and ends up in a landfill.
Yet there’s an intrinsic barrier that a circular economy will struggle to overcome. The energy transition, the story goes, will require a widespread deployment of new products. If people keep buying more things and using more technologies, demand will increase. There may not be enough material already in use to cover that new demand. So more mining must be the answer, right?
For the authors of the report, consumption is not written in stone. If mining can grow, can consumption shrink? In addition to a circular economy, can society itself be circular? Andy Whitmore, one of the authors of the report, explained it to me in an email:
We can make the economy circular, but if the amount of materials required keeps rising in the near to mid-future that will still cause untold problems. That is where the idea of a ‘circular society’ comes in, as it takes the ideas of circularity but moves it beyond just the economy.
Mixing a growth-fixated economy with circular ideas is not in itself a solution. However, a circular society is very much about ensuring decision-making achieves true ecological sustainability in our consumption of materials.
Put simply, a circular society is listening to everyone involved and affected by production/consumption. Global markets separate consumers from the sources of their materials, but the authors believe everyone should be part of the conversation. People and their experiences at the other end of the supply chain could be included in climate action plans and production. In the end, not only is waste minimized, but consumption itself is questioned. (Think: ‘re-politicize’ cars.)
Climate goes metal
Greenland will hold parliamentary elections on Tuesday that could decide the fate of two high-profile rare earths projects.
Google, BMW, Volvo, and Samsung SDI became the first companies to call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining and commit not to use any seabed-sourced minerals in their products.
The Biden administration is targeting 30 GW more of offshore wind power.
Rare earths producers are worried that the majority of China’s imported ore would be disturbed by Myanmar’s deadly coup violence.
A Norwegian company, Green Minerals AS, is the first international seabed miner to be listen on a public stock exchange. It plans to target cobalt and copper between Norway and Greenland.
Mining giant Anglo American will not rule out mining on indigenous lands in the Amazon. Under Brazil’s Constitution, it’s illegal, but a new bill may open Indigenous lands to mining.
An ocean-spanning alliance of NGOs in the Pacific have called on global governments to unanimously reject deep-sea mining.
Indigenous locals are excluded from consultation with Nornickel, the single largest nickel producer in Russia.
The same Aboriginal group who had sacred rock shelters destroyed last year by Rio Tinto in Australia, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura Peoples, has rejected proposals from the country’s richest man to build dams on its land.
Canada released its list of critical minerals — materials it believes are important for the sustainable economic success of the country. Then, it tightened rules on foreign investment to protect supply. The US government is looking to Canada to secure its own minerals.
There’s a new battery nickel producer from South Africa, using techniques that seem to be independent of other global projects.
A community blockaded a Glencore-controlled copper mine in Peru. It lasted two days.
Chile is looking to boost its lithium production, and smaller producers (there are currently two large ones) are getting interested.
Protesters from an Argentinian province that has long banned mining confronted the president, who is seen as prioritizing mining over citizens and the environment.
Chilean lawmakers are set to decide whether the country will demand more royalties from copper miners to support social services, as copper prices surge on energy transition hopes.
To close a forecasted supply gap, copper industry players believe the world needs 8 more large copper mines.
Mexico’s president said that mining companies haven’t been serious about developing the country’s lithium industry, and that some miners are giving up permits because they don’t want to pay taxes. Meanwhile, a Canadian gold and silver miner complained of “extortion” when workers demanded new trade union representation.
Rio Tinto unveiled plans to improve its relationship with Traditional Owners in Australia, including holding virtual seminars with the board.
Papua New Guinea’s Ok Tedi mine resumed operations after a two-week pause due to an outbreak of coronavirus infections.
An Australian company is set to become Canada’s first rare earths miner, and it plans to have an extraction plant also built in Canada.
Vale executives are being investigated in Brazil regarding a deal made for iron ore in Guinea that found an Israeli tycoon guilty of corruption in Geneva.
A series of rivers in a province in Indonesia, North Kalimantan on Borneo island, it set to become a large hub of copper, nickel and iron smelting fueled by a large hydropower dam.
Shareholders of the Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia has sued majority shareholder Rio Tinto for allegedly hiding cost overruns and delays.
A state-owned company in the Democratic Republic of the Congo began its role as the sole purchaser of artisanal-mined cobalt.
Reads
≠ endorsement
How a Perth geologist convinced Trump to buy Greenland (Australian Financial Review)
There’s a cheaper, quicker and cleaner way to recycle more of your gadgets (BBC Science Focus)
In space, no one can hear you sell (RIP Corp podcast)
Governments identify minerals needed for economic and national security (The Economist)
Rethinking the new minerals boom (Financial Times)
A corporation wants to mine for gold near Death Valley. Native tribes are fighting it (Los Angeles Times)
Why a Big Mining Project Could Wipe Out Rural Villages in Indonesia (Yale 360)
Indonesian community seeks World Bank mediation against Chinese-owned zinc mine (China Dialogue)
How this Czech high-purity manganese project could help the EU meet its EV battery goals (BNN Bloomberg)
In Gabonese city, the two faces of a mining boom (France 24)
The road to electric is filled with tiny cars (Rest of World)
The West has a new front in the war over electric cars (Grist)
Electric Cars Will Cost More Using Ethically Sourced Batteries (Bloomberg)
Soaring prices spur miners' hunt for growth, fueling indigenous and investor ire (Reuters)
Copper boom is catching the eye of poverty-fighting politicians (Bloomberg)
Mining and deforestation: the unheeded industry challenge? (Mining Technology)
The King of Nickel Is Betting Big on a Green Future in Batteries (Bloomberg)
Investors see ‘gold rush on steroids’ for green battery metals (Financial Times)
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