Mineral-dependent electrification: there is always "a price to pay"

How much material?

Copper for the ubiquitous cables, bauxite for the indispensable aluminium, iron ore for the essential steel...

In total, extracted metallic ores weighed 9,6 billion tonnes in 2020 (3,5 times more than in 1970), or about 10% of all raw materials extracted, according to the "Global Resources Outlook 2024" report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

For their part, fossil fuels, coal, oil, natural gas, represented 15,4 billion tonnes in 2020, 2,5 times more than in 1970.

Three of the most highly valued mining companies on the stock market, Australia's BHP and Rio Tinto and America's Southern Copper, extracted 657 million tons of various materials in one year, according to documents from their latest financial year.

This is equivalent to extracting the weight of approximately 180 Eiffel Towers every day.

What are the needs for renewables?

However staggering the quantities of ore currently being extracted, even more copper, cobalt and lithium will need to be extracted from the ground to meet the demand generated by electric batteries, wind turbines and other components of the decarbonization of the economy.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated in 2021 that in order to achieve the goal of global warming "well below" 2°C by 2040, the need for minerals for decarbonized energy would be multiplied by four.

For example, it indicates that an electric car carries on average more than 200 kilos of graphite, copper, nickel or manganese, compared to about thirty for a combustion engine vehicle.

Renewable energies are set to become the main drivers of consumption of certain materials within 20 years, according to the IEA: they could consume 40% of copper and rare earths, 60 to 70% of nickel and cobalt, and nearly 90% of lithium.

Why is mining problematic?

The mining industry is far from being environmentally neutral. For the French association SystExt ("Extractive Systems and Environments"), created in 2009, it is even based on an "intrinsically unsustainable" model.

New deposits are generally less productive than their predecessors. To produce even as much as the old mines, new ones usually have to be larger, deeper, and process more material. The activity is also water-intensive.

Furthermore, the recycling of mineral raw materials is far from satisfactory, and "the outlook is not encouraging," the European Court of Auditors recently criticized.

Seven of the 26 materials deemed necessary for the energy transition have "recycling rates between 1% and 5%. "Ten others are not recycled at all," she estimated.

For energy historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, electrification remains very relevant and essential, "much more efficient" than energy from fossil fuels.

But while the "climate has re-enchanted the mine", this activity remains "particularly polluting", he warns.

UNEP experts also note that an increase in mining carried out via "currently most common practices" will cause "considerable damage" at the social and environmental level.

Is the situation improving?

Industry giants are redoubling their commitments to ethical operations and good practices.

The problem, SystExt points out, is the lack of a definition of what constitutes a virtuous operation. "The 'sustainable' or 'responsible' mine does not exist," it concluded after a long research effort.

There is always "a price to pay," also points out independent journalist Nicolas Stavros Niarchos.

Author of a long investigation into the supply chain of electric batteries ("The Elements of Power", Penguin Press), he calls on consumers to become aware of the impact of their habits, in order to "reduce this price as much as possible, and by all means": the only way not to pollute with minerals is not to consume them.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.