Sustainable, responsible mining for clean energy

Two months of Green Rocks

We’re two months in to building the Green Rocks community, and I’m excited so many people are interested in sustainable mining and sustainable clean energy tech.

Rocked by this support, I’m digging my heels in. I’m working on a few mining reports, many for Green Rocks, so keep an eye out for those over the next several weeks.

This week, I want to make sure all subscribers have seen what GR has done so far. There has also been some important news from the mining world, and that’s included in the Eye on Industry section toward the bottom.

I first want to make sure we’re all starting from the same point of departure. We need to stop burning fossil fuels as soon as possible. If not today, the next best option is tomorrow. If not then, the day after. We don’t yet know how we will achieve clean energy, and that’s where GR fits in.

The climate crisis this year is showcasing how extreme it can transform weather — Bangladesh underwater, California first without power then on fire, heat waves smacking hurricane-struck cities, frozen tundra alight. There’s enough burning already. We need to stop burning fossil fuels.

Anti-climate activists have used reports critical of mining and similar to those in this newsletter to promote the carbon-heavy status quo. GR scrutinizes how energy and transportation will transition to zero emissions, not that they will transition.

There are myriad ways to be kinder to the planet and its people. GR focuses on mining because it is getting the biggest boost from clean energy companies, but it is notoriously destructive toward people and nature.

Check out the global reach of mining for clean energy:

Below are the topics that GR has covered in the first two months of operation. Digs are original reports, Weekly InQuarries are fun questions with interesting answers, and Nuggets bring together mining news from around the world.

Digs

Why battery science is critical to a sustainable transition

Q&A: Battery supply needs transparency

Advice from a Green New Deal of the global South

Part 1: How China warped the market for a vital clean energy ingredient

Part 2: Mines were outsourced. How are locals responding?

A rare chance to study the ocean before we mine it

Nickel's future in a school, an island, and an ocean

Weekly InQuarries

Are rare earth elements a kind of fossil fuel?

How is Australia setting mineral records during a pandemic?

How did lumps of metal form at the bottom of the ocean?

China produces most graphite. Who is challenging its control?

What does civil society think of industry’s solution to waste dam failures?

What can the deep sea tell us?

Nuggets

Will cobalt ever die? And rare earths in the US

Waste dams & urban mining potential

Lithium in the Bolivian election, Western Australia’s battery ambitions, two new research centers to study tailings

Environmental activist deaths linked to mining as Elon jokes about a coup

Indigenous rights and mining

In Chile, indigenous groups inch closer to lithium action

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Eye on Industry

• In Ecuador, local officials have requested three times to hold a referendum on mining activities in their district. Each time, the most recent being last Monday, the national court has shot down the request. The miner from Canada, INV Metals, has been accused of lobbying to block public consultation.

• The second largest lithium producer in the Atacama Salt Flats, SQM, made public its visual water monitoring system. Three weeks ago, indigenous activists called on the government to cancel SQM’s environmental permit after officials exposed irregularities in its water usage. If you deal with lithium or water in the salt flats, I’d be interested in speaking with you for a story I’m writing. Just reply to this email!

• Vale, which announced its exit from its Goro nickel mine in New Caledonia late last year, just fell through on a deal to sell the mine and may shut it down.

• Rhyolite Ridge gets messier. The Bureau of Land Management approved plans for the lithium/boron project in Nevada, which puts a rare plant at risk of extinction. The Center for Biological Diversity filed a complaint the next day to the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that the company, ioneer, had misled investors about its timetable. A whistleblower last year accused the BLM of sidestepping usual procedures to fast-track projects like Rhyolite Ridge.

• South Africa’s National Energy Association argued in their risk report that the energy transition will be like a “new gold rush” like the country’s mining boom a century ago “with the resultant economic and social benefits it brought.” Surprising words for a mining industry charged with manufacturing and endorsing apartheid.

• Chinese battery materials supplier GEM signed a deal with Harita to buy its nickel and cobalt from its project on Obi Island in Indonesia. Harita is also trying to open a mine on Wawonii Island.

• The European Union unveiled a plan to reduce its reliance on foreign raw materials for electronic technologies, like rare earths and lithium. It plans to map out European sources for the metals by 2022.

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Reads

Not endorsements, just food for thought.

• Our Best Energy Solution Could Hurt Biodiversity If We’re Not Careful (Gizmodo)

• Can a mining corporation ever truly be a good neighbor? (The Guardian)

• Industrial waste can turn planet-warming carbon dioxide into stone (Science Magazine)

• Electric vehicle battery sustainability is a must to meet climate ambitions (Utility Dive)

• How Australia's 'white gold' could power the global electric vehicle revolution (The Guardian)

• The drive for greener cars must be matched by cleaner lithium (Financial Times)

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Hi! 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, share freely! Subscribe with just your email, and weekly reports with round-ups and original reporting will come directly to your inbox. It’s free! (for now)