MINEX Forum

Tag: China

  • By 2030, EU may rely on China’s batteries as it did Russian energy

    By 2030, EU may rely on China’s batteries as it did Russian energy

    A paper prepared for EU leaders has raised concerns about the potential dependency of the European Union on China for lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells by 2030, similar to its past dependence on Russia for energy prior to the conflict in Ukraine. This issue will be a focal point of discussions on Europe’s economic security during the EU leaders’ meeting in Granada, Spain, on October 5th.

    Given China’s increasing assertiveness and economic influence on the global stage, the leaders will evaluate the European Commission’s proposals to mitigate the risk of excessive reliance on China and explore diversification opportunities towards Africa and Latin America.

    The paper emphasizes that due to the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources such as solar or wind, Europe must develop energy storage solutions to achieve its goal of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. As a result, the demand for lithium-ion batteries, fuel cells, and electrolyzers is expected to surge between 10 and 30 times in the coming years, according to the paper prepared by the Spanish presidency of the EU.

    While the EU holds a strong position in the intermediate and assembly stages of electrolyzer production, boasting over 50% of the global market share, it heavily relies on China for crucial components like fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries, particularly for electric vehicles.

    Without implementing robust measures, the paper warns that by 2030, the European energy ecosystem could face a different but equally concerning dependence on China, akin to the dependency on Russia before the invasion of Ukraine.

    Before the Russian invasion, the EU sourced over 40% of its total gas consumption, 27% of its oil imports, and 46% of its coal imports from Russia, according to the European Commission’s data. The abrupt cessation of energy purchases from Russia caused an energy price shock in the EU, leading to a surge in consumer inflation. This necessitated the European Central Bank to raise interest rates significantly, ultimately dampening economic growth.

    However, the vulnerability of the EU extends beyond lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells. The paper highlights the potential for a similar scenario in the digital-tech sector, as the demand for digital devices such as sensors, drones, data servers, storage equipment, and data transmission networks is projected to rise sharply in the coming decade.

    While the EU maintains a relatively strong position in certain aspects of the digital-tech sector, notable weaknesses exist in other areas, as stated in the document.

    By 2030, this foreign dependency could severely hinder the productivity gains urgently required by the European industry and service sector. Furthermore, it could impede the modernization of agricultural systems necessary to address the challenges posed by climate change, the paper concludes.

  • IRA, EGD and now the EU move on China EVs – governments are showering mining with money

    IRA, EGD and now the EU move on China EVs – governments are showering mining with money

    In her annual address to the European parliament, President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the European Union will initiate an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles. She expressed concern over the flood of cheaper Chinese electric cars in global markets, which are sustained by substantial state subsidies, leading to market distortion. Von der Leyen specifically highlighted the predicament faced by European car manufacturers who are often undercut by competitors benefiting from these subsidies. Given the high stakes and the challenging outlook, particularly for German mass market automakers like Volkswagen, it seems inevitable that measures such as tariffs or restrictions on Chinese carmakers’ access to Europe will be imposed.

    Although European carmakers already have successful joint ventures in China and ownership restrictions for foreign carmakers have been lifted, it remains unclear how China could further open up its market to the EU. The concerns raised by the European Commission regarding Chinese electric vehicles are justified, as China’s growing success in the European car market may be attributed to predatory practices and significant investments from Beijing into its industrial champions. However, the response from the EU, represented by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the European Green Deal (EGD), may be perceived as delayed, considering China’s rapid dominance in the global electric vehicle supply chain over the past decade.

    China has already captured a fifth of Europe’s electric vehicle market, which raises concerns within Europe. Data from Adamas Intelligence reveals that in the first half of 2023, 19% of all gigawatt-hours delivered to electric vehicle buyers in Europe originated from China-made electric vehicles and battery packs. The absolute amount of battery power exported from China to Europe has grown by more than 51% this year, totaling 14 gigawatt-hours. Chinese automakers showcased their products at the recent Munich auto expo, impressing even the most fervent European car enthusiasts.

    The potential response from the European Commission, which may lead to higher electric vehicle prices and reduced variety, may not be well-received by European car buyers. Notably, the best-selling Chinese electric car, the BYD Song Plus DM-i plug-in hybrid, offers advanced features and an impressive range at an affordable price. With a range of 1,000 km, including 150 km in fully electric mode, it is available in China for just $27,000. The availability of such vehicles, along with their cutting-edge technology, presents a tempting proposition for European consumers.

    It is worth noting that the majority of Chinese electric vehicle exports to Europe this year consisted of non-Chinese brands, including vehicles manufactured by BMW and Dacia in China. However, the presence of a significant number of Teslas among these shipments further complicates the situation, as imposing tariffs on the American electric car pioneer may not be well-received by Washington.

    In terms of battery metals, China’s dominance in the EV supply chain has led to the export of significant quantities of lithium, graphite, nickel, manganese, and cobalt to Europe. These materials are essential for battery production. The EU-China electric vehicle dispute is likely to disrupt the flow of battery materials from China to Europe. China’s position in the supply chain gives it influence over battery metal prices, acting as a monopsony in certain raw material markets. This development brings miners closer to their long-held dream of commanding a premium for their products in Western markets with stricter environmental, social, and governance regulations. Von der Leyen’s remarks about artificially low prices further highlight this reality.

  • Belgium leads the way in rare earth metals recycling

    Belgium leads the way in rare earth metals recycling

    Belgium is a European leader in recycling, one of the few nations to meet recycling targets set out by the EU. Other than household and commercial waste, Belgian recycling plants are now helping to reduce Europe’s dependence on foreign minerals.

    Rare earth metals, commonly used in the production of high-tech goods, are desperately needed for the European economy. China has a monopoly on the supply of these metals, producing up to 97% of the world’s supply.

    In July, China placed export restrictions on gallium and germanium metals, which are indispensable for the production of advanced chips.

    China accounts for about 80% of the global production of gallium, which is used in integrated circuits, LEDs and solar panels, among others. The country also dominates the production of germanium, which is used in the production of fibre-optic cables and infrared applications.

    The European Commission is concerned that restrictions on exports of certain rare earth metals will impact EU supply chains, especially within the context of growing demand for these metals for the green transition. It wants to reduce dependence on third countries such as China to 65% for imports of 18 critical resources.

     

    Rare metals from scrap

    Belgian companies want to play a role in the transition away from reliance on rare earth metals imports. Even if Europe is not well-suited for the extraction of these precious metals, it can play a role in reducing imports, notably through recycling.

    One factory in Liège is one of the very few places in Europe to process metallurgy-related waste and recover the valuable rare earth metals. Hydrometal has been extracting gallium and germanium from waste for nearly 20 years. However, this is no simple process.

    “It’s very precise, difficult to make profitable, very competitive, and you can’t find a lot of raw materials on the market. It really requires specific knowledge and specific chemistry. Our factory is the only one in Wallonia. Today, there are two actors in Belgium who can do it, and only two actors in Europe too,” Phillipe Henry, administrator of Hydrometal, told RTL Info.

    Recent Chinese export restrictions have caused prices on the market to skyrocket. The current market price for gallium is $614 per kg, and $2,716 per kg for germanium. Faced with these rising prices, recycling has become a more profitable endeavour.

    “We are contacted almost every day to be able to respond to these challenges. They will not be easy, because we have to remain competitive, answer also have to see if it can be maintained in the long-term,” Henry noted.

    For now, Belgian companies are focused on the extraction of rare earth minerals from waste in the metallurgy industry. Granted, much of our tech and smartphones contain highly sought after rare earth metals, but these amounts are still too small to be profitable for major recycling companies.

    The amounts contained in phones amount to just a few grams per tonne, and it is not currently viable to extract gallium, germanium, or indium from them, at least in Belgium.

    While recycling plays an important role in reducing dependence on Chinese exports, Europe may soon switch to encouraging their extraction from European soil. Currently, no rare earth metals are mined in Europe.

    But new studies have revealed massive deposits of valuable rare earth metals, which could feasibly be extracted. In Sweden, mineral group LKAB discovered an untapped reserve of more than 10 million tonnes of oxides, the largest known deposit of its kind in Europe.

    The EU will reflect on the possibility of the opening of new rare earth metal mines in Europe, but will likely still face resistance from locals due to environmental concerns. The largest potential extraction site for Europe is at Kvanefjeld in Greenland, but extraction has been prevented by indigenous groups and local residents.

    The need to find new solutions is growing. Last year, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen predicted that “Lithium and rare earth metals will soon be more important than oil and gas.”

  • UK is losing a crucial race with China for minerals used in electric cars and green energy, mining boss warns

    UK is losing a crucial race with China for minerals used in electric cars and green energy, mining boss warns

    Britain must rapidly reverse its culture of “non-existent” investment in exploration for key green energy metals on home soil or face a future of Chinese dominance in an area vital to future economic security, a mining company boss has warned.

    Galantas Gold Corporation, a Canadian company which holds exploration licences for some of the UK’s most promising geological deposits, is understood to have found a potential source of graphite, increasingly one of the world’s most sought-after materials for manufacturing electric vehicles, at a site it operates in Omagh, Northern Ireland.

    But the firm’s chief executive has fired a shot across the bows of ministers and British industry by warning that the UK and other European countries are under-investing and can no longer rely on the exploitation of resources in the developing world to deliver the critical raw materials needed for the transition to clean energy.

    The ability of the UK and allied countries to obtain their own longterm supplies of materials such as lithium or more obscure metals such as germanium, used in semiconductors, is at the core of a geo-political tussle with China in areas from electric vehicles to consumer electronics to wind power.

    Beijing is already expected to have a substantial lead in providing electric cars in the UK when a ban on new petrol and diesel cars comes into force in 2030, causing some within the Government to raise concerns about the use of those vehicles to harvest vast amounts of data about the movements of ordinary Britons.

    Galantas CEO, Mario Stifano, whose company is in the early stages of exploring metal deposits in a 217 square kilometre area of the Scottish Highlands, told  that Britain was at risk of failing to understand and successfully exploit its own resources because of a lack of interest in funding the groundwork needed to establish the exact location and quantity of what are believed to be sizable deposits of materials such as copper, vanadium, zinc and gold.

    In contrast to mining superpowers such as Australia and Canada, where large sums are spent to gain as full a picture as possible of unexploited deposits prior to mining, he said investors in the UK and other European countries tend to be interested only in mining projects which are close to going into production and otherwise tend to prioritise “buying shares in a Unilever or a Glaxo”.

    Mr Stifano said: “The amount of exploration that has occurred in Canada and the US looking for minerals is hundreds if not thousands of multiples more than what has been spent in the UK.

    “What is lacking is support for exploration companies in order to build knowledge about these kinds of deposits so they can get into production. We need zinc, copper, cobalt, lithium, graphite and so on. It’s all over Europe [and] a lot of it is in the United Kingdom and we think we know where a lot of that is.

    “Really what’s lacking is the ability to raise the funds to go and look for it. Funding for exploration in Europe is next to non-existent and yet it has some of the best geology in the world.”

    A number of companies in Cornwall have advanced projects aimed at extracting lithium from the region’s granite and clay beds with the aim of meeting demand from manufacturers including Tata Group’s new £4bn battery “giga factory” to be built in Somerset. But despite the release earlier this year of a study by the British Geological Survey pinpointing eight areas of the UK which have the right geology to yield 17 of the 18 metals identified by the Government as critical to economic stability, industry sources say there is a dearth of exploration activity.

    Mr Stifano pointed to the existence of tax-deductible exploration investment schemes in Canada as a potential way to kickstart projects in Britain, adding that public funding may be needed to spark wider interest in a sector where China, which recently announced export restrictions on germanium, is taking an increasingly muscular stance.

    He said: “In the early days, you may need something like [public funding] because the culture is lacking. In Canada, people talk about discoveries and opportunities and mining. You go to Europe or the UK and it’s not part of the natural culture – people would much rather invest in a Unilever or a Glaxo or any of the big companies.

    “China is slowly going to be putting more and more export restrictions on critical metals and it is going to put a lot of pressure on the Western world because we stopped looking for those same metals.”

    The mining executive highlighted the fact that it has taken Galantas two years to obtain permission to drill one-inch diametre core samples at its Omagh site – a permitting process that would generally take a month in Canada or Australia – as an example of the logistical and procedural difficulties facing the exploration industry in the UK. Environmental groups have previously raised concerns about the impact of drilling near water sources and aquifers.

    Mr Stifano said he recognised the need for any mining company to act sustainably and responsibly but added he believes it is “no longer fair” for Western countries to source their materials from “poor countries with no regulation” and they should instead focus strongly on building homegrown industries.

    He said: “What I am trying to push at is the minerals industry needs support in the early stages. If we are going to move to electric vehicles and clean energies we have to find these critical metals, or they are all going to come from China.”

    The Government said it was supporting Britain’s critical minerals industry following the unveiling last year of a national strategy to grow domestic capabilities and announcement this week of a £24m investment in Cornish Lithium. In a statement, the Department of Business and Trade said: “Government continues to work with industry and finance communities to support private sector investment in critical mineral projects along the value chain.”

  • Explained: The EU’s handicap in the global race for critical raw materials

    Explained: The EU’s handicap in the global race for critical raw materials

    The EU is highly dependent on third countries for the raw materials needed to engineer its energy transition and digital transformation.

    Russia’s war in Ukraine and the need to wean itself off fossil fuels in order to reach climate targets have prompted the EU to accelerate its green transition in recent months but also forced it to acknowledge its dependencies over access to critical raw materials.

    In the global race for raw materials, the EU faces multiple challenges.

    The first one is China, which recently started restricting exports of gallium and germanium, two metals essential for the production of semiconductors, in response to Western curbs on Beijing’s access to micro-processing technology.

    The EU considers both materials of high strategic importance. As well as semiconductors and other electronic devices, they are used for military applications such as missile defence and radar systems.

    Beijing’s restrictions come as a stark warning as the EU attempts to diversify and boost domestic supply of raw materials to reduce dependency on third countries.

    Reliance on ‘low-governance’ countries

    But diversifying supply chains could mean the EU has to source these materials from countries that don’t adhere to the same standards.

    Recent data suggests the EU’s supply is highly dependent on countries that have a low governance level, based on indicators including political stability, rule of law and corruption control.

    The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), adopted in March this year, stipulates that EU strategic projects to scale up supply must be assessed taking into account all aspects of sustainability, including environmental protection, socially responsible practices and respect for human rights such as the rights of women.

    But many countries feeding EU supply are not aligned with European values. This raises concerns about the impact on the local communities where materials are mined, as well as the potential exploitation of natural resources.

    For example, the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose governance indicators are among the lowest in the world, supplies 63% of the EU’s cobalt, which is essential for manufacturing batteries for electrical vehicles.

    Diversifying supply a challenge

    The EU is also highly dependent on single countries for key materials such as Magnesium (China, 97%), Lithium (Chile, 97%), Iridium (South Africa, 93%) and Niobium (Brazil, 92%). These dependencies make supply chains vulnerable.

    The Critical Raw Materials Act aims to ensure no third country provides more than 65% of the Union’s annual consumption of any raw material.

    But diversifying supply is complex when refineries of many essential materials are monopolised by one or more global powers. China dominates the refining market for many critical raw materials.

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis has shown the acute dangers of over-reliance for supplies of raw materials. China’s increasingly antagonistic stance and the political instability in many African countries have also served as reminders of the fragility of the EU’s trading relationships.

    A spiralling global demand

    The demand for raw materials is growing steeply, as developed countries race to digitalise and decarbonise their economies. This can only happen with sufficient supply of raw materials, meaning countries must scale up extracting, refining and recycling operations.

    The global demand for lithium, for example, is set to increase a staggering 89-fold by 2050, according to the European Commission. Demand for gallium will multiply 17-fold during the same time.

    The Critical Raw Materials Act sets targets for the Union to extract 10%, process 40% and recycle 15% of its annual consumption of raw materials by 2030.

    To meet these targets and compete on the global stage, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the EU needs to speed up investments in research and development, recognising that the bloc’s global share of R&D expenditure has fallen 10% in the last 20 years.

  • China goes for the jugular on strategic minerals

    China goes for the jugular on strategic minerals

    Gallium tops the list of 50 critical minerals deemed vital for American national security and hi-tech production, and deemed most vulnerable to supply-risk by the US Geological Survey. It is equally vital to Europe and the UK.

    There is no US national stockpile. The Pentagon has confessed that it has no military reserves. It seems that the bureaucratic system has only just woken up to the irreplaceable properties of this silvery trace metal in advanced weaponry and in the race for global dominance of electric vehicles, 5G & 6G wireless and power electronics.

    “Gallium nitride (GaN) is foundational to nearly all the cutting-edge defence technology that we produce,” said Colin Whelan, head of advanced military projects at Raytheon.

    The Chinese today produce 98pc of the world supply of primary gallium. The figure falls to 80pc for purified gallium used in industry, but you cannot reach that stage without access to the raw material. This is the metal that China has chosen to target along with its sister germanium, 31 and 32 respectively on Mendeleev’s periodic table. It won’t be the last.

    The British government has been insouciant. The UK let its last gallium processor wither on the vine in 2018.

    “It is quite scary because this is time-critical,” said Olimpia Pilch, founder of the Critical Minerals International Alliance.

    “There has been this ideology that the free market will take care of everything, but that will leave us completely out of the race. Governments have to step in with incentives to get production going,” she said.

    The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington says China’s stranglehold is not a fluke or the outcome of normal market forces. The Communist Party compelled Chinese smelting companies to develop gallium refining capacity as a side-product of aluminium processing from bauxite.

    Chinese production rose 20-fold from 2005 to 2015, enabled by mercantilist subsidies through state-controlled banks and by a suppressed currency. This flooded the world market and wiped out competitors. China has since acquired near total control over the gallium supply chain and processing industry.

    It has now begun to close the trap. Restrictions on exports of gallium kicked in this month. This is the precursor to an embargo of unfriendly countries but not yet an actual embargo. “The export restrictions are quite clever. They are mapping out the supply-chain so they know exactly where it is going and where the vulnerabilities lie,” said Ms Pilch.

    What we don’t know is whether this is merely a shot across the bow, retaliation for US restrictions on the sale of advanced semiconductors and the Dutch decision last month to restrict ASML sales of deep-ultraviolet lithography systems, or whether this has long been part of Xi Jinping’s game-plan for tech supremacy – laid out in Made in China 2025 and his strategy of “military-civil fusion”.

    A string of industrial espionage cases targeting gallium technology in the US and allied states suggests that China has put sustained effort into this campaign, including the theft of classified material from the US semiconductor company Wolfspeed by the People’s Liberation Army.

    Gallium nitride has a uniquely-high “bandgap” of 3.4eV compared to 1.2eV for silicon transistors and fast electron mobility. This allows it to operate at lightning speed and at high voltage. This is gold dust in hi-tech warfare.

    “Gallium nitride is revolutionising modern radar, allowing new radar modules to track smaller, faster and more numerous threats from nearly double the distance,” said CSIS. It keeps the West a step ahead of Russian hypersonic missiles and Chinese stealth fighters.

    The larger economic prize is in electronics and clean tech. Gallium nitride pushes the limits of power density, lowering the power loss in converters by 80pc.

    Professor Umesh Mishra, dean of engineering at UC Santa Barbara and co-founder of the US semiconductor company Transphorm, said GaN has already delivered the “fastest technology shift in human history” by conquering half of the world’s lighting market in just two decades with LED light-emitting diodes. It is now going to do the same for power electronics.

    “This revolution is nowhere near done. It is about to jump to a higher level,” he said.

    Gallium technology makes it much cheaper to switch back and forth from DC to AC power, with sweeping implications for the efficiency of electric vehicles, solar panels, data centres or smart grids.

    Navitas Semiconductor in the US is betting that it can slash the home charging time for EVs by two-thirds and cut energy use by 70pc, with products on the market by 2025. It aims to cut energy loss from solar inverters by 40pc.

    Claims that the world will need a massive and costly increase in electricity generation to replace fossil fuel energy invariably ignore how much is wasted today and how much can be saved by the magic of power electronics.

    Gallium can be replaced by other minerals for some functions, usually at lower efficiency. Silicon carbide is a rival for the next wave of EV electronics. But a Western economy without gallium would be at a serious disadvantage.

    China has locked up much of the bauxite supply from Indonesia and in the West African state of Guinea, another military dictatorship slipping into the Sino-Russian orbit. But ultimately there is no shortage of aluminium ore in the world, and gallium can be extracted from zinc ores.

    The imperative is time. It takes several years to develop an alternative supply chain from dependable allies such as Australia, or from Sweden, or from zinc mines in Alaska; by then China might have stolen a decisive march in the escalating clean-tech war.

    It is already two years since the Biden administration published a review warning that US reliance on gallium from China poses “far-reaching” risks. Little has changed so far.

    China must be careful not to overplay its hand, as it has done repeatedly since the wolf warriors gained ascendancy.

    It weaponised its 97pc monopoly over the supply of rare earth minerals in order to coerce Japan over the Senkaku Islands in 2010, and later issued periodic embargo threats against the West as political leverage.

    It still has a commanding position, with 92pc control over minerals used for advanced magnets, but its overall share of processing for rare earths has dropped to 85pc, and its share of mine supply has dropped to 63pc. These minerals are not in fact rare and the liberal world is slowly responding.

    Lisa Tobin, former China director at the US National Security Council, accuses the Communist Party of “brute force economics”.

    It does not operate from the principle of comparative advantage, which regulates the normal rivalries of global competition: it pursues the zero-sum goal of absolute advantage, and it engages in a systematic state policy of coercion, predatory dumping and technology theft to achieve this aim.

    One can overdo such Cold War hawkishness. At the end of the day, China itself depends on maritime imports of energy, raw materials and food, a vulnerability that eclipses its advantage over critical minerals.

    The gallium and germanium curbs nevertheless show intent. We should assume that Xi Jinping will exploit this chokehold and extend it to other scarce metals when the moment is ripe.

    Reducing reliance on Chinese supply is too urgent a matter to leave to the free market alone.

  • Europe’s miners rally on China stimulus boost

    Europe’s miners rally on China stimulus boost

    On July 25, 2023, European mining and basic resources companies experienced a surge in share prices due to a rally in copper and metals prices. The increase followed pledges by China to provide more support for its economy in the face of a post-COVID recovery. The STOXX Europe Basic Resources index rose as much as 2.8%, reaching its highest level since July 14, and was on track for its most significant daily jump since July 12.

    Leading the index higher were diversified miners Anglo American and Rio Tinto, both seeing rises of over 4%. Additionally, London-listed copper miner Antofagasta witnessed a jump of 3.9% as copper futures on the London Metal Exchange rose 1% on the same day, reaching $8,606 per tonne.

    The positive momentum was driven by China’s top leaders’ commitment on the preceding Monday to further assist their economy’s recovery. They also signalled additional support for the property industry.

  • EU courts further controversy by adding mining to green rulebook

    EU courts further controversy by adding mining to green rulebook

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    The move comes as the EU tries to re-shore clean technology from the US and China to meet its climate goals amid growing geopolitical tensions.

    [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][widget-SocialWidget][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][link url=”https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/eu-courts-further-controversy-by-adding-mining-to-green-rulebook” content_text=”News source”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]The European Union will include the mining of critical raw materials in its green investment rulebook as a “priority” to ensure the bloc isn’t left behind on resources needed to boost clean technologies.

    Ms Mairead McGuinness, the bloc’s financial services commissioner, acknowledged that such a move is likely to draw more controversy for the EU’s so-called taxonomy that aims to spur investment in climate-friendly economic activities. It has already been criticised for previous inclusions such as gas and nuclear.

    She did not put a timeline on when the commission might propose incorporating mining in the rulebook or detail what kind of criteria might be used.

    “We are going to have to do more mining in Europe,” she said at a Bloomberg media roundtable in Brussels on Tuesday.

    “We do not want to create other harms, but we also have to be able to say there isn’t a world where there aren’t some challenges. Everything won’t be 100 percent perfect, but it will be an awful lot better to live without fossil fuels.”

    The move comes as the EU tries to re-shore clean technology from the US and China to meet its climate goals amid growing geopolitical tensions.

    The bloc wants to boost domestic mining of critical raw materials, so they meet at least 10 percent of its needs by the end of the decade. The need for lithium – key for electric vehicles and energy storage – could jump 12 times over that period.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][epic_post_tag compatible_column_notice=”” font_size=”17px”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][vc_text_separator title=”LATEST NEWS” color=”juicy_pink”][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][widget-LatestPosts post_number=”4″][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_text_separator title=”MOST POPULAR” color=”juicy_pink”][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][widget-popular-posts post_count=”4″][vc_empty_space][vc_wp_search title=”Search”][vc_empty_space][lvs display_like=””][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_section][vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][distance desktop_type=”50″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][epic_block_28 compatible_column_notice=”” number_post=”6″ post_offset=”0″ first_title=”You may also like”][/epic_block_28][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][epic_hero_5 compatible_column_notice=”” hero_margin=”0″ content_filter_number_alert=”” post_offset=”0″][/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_section]

  • Europe needs to embrace green mining for the sake of its energy transition goals

    Europe needs to embrace green mining for the sake of its energy transition goals

    [vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][distance desktop_type=”30″][lvs][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_btn title=”Source – euronews.com” color=”sky” i_type=”material” i_icon_material=”vc-material vc-material-perm_device_information” add_icon=”true” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.euronews.com%2F2023%2F07%2F13%2Feurope-needs-to-embrace-green-mining-for-the-sake-of-its-energy-transition-goals|target:_blank”][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_column_text]

    In order to move to using 100% renewable energy, the world will need as much copper over the next two decades as we have taken from the Earth since the beginning of civilization.

    If that figure seems staggering, it is because the task of the green energy transition is a daunting task in itself.

    Copper wiring, for instance, will be needed for nearly every component of this shift, from the devices and cars powered by green energy sources to the renewable plants and solar panels themselves.

    Silver is needed for super-conductive wiring in wind turbines, and vast amounts of nickel and lithium will also be necessary to build the batteries to store electricity from renewable sources.

    Add to that the aluminium and iron that are key to building green energy infrastructure.

    Fortunately, these common metals are widely distributed and found in most countries, including most of Europe.

    Less fortunately, Europe has so far been extremely reluctant to mine these materials.

    Europe has to become resource-independent

    Last week we saw the announcement of an Anglo-French joint venture to mine lithium in the southwest of England, with the goal of meeting around two-thirds of the UK’s estimated battery demand.

    However, there still is very low acceptance in Europe of the mining industry.

    For many, mining is viewed as a developing world activity, one which is disruptive and polluting and is best done in Africa or South America. We currently import most of our metals.

    If Europe does not become a mining continent, it will become dependent on countries like China for resources, particularly when it comes to lithium.

     

    Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP
    An armed soldier stands on the grounds of Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe’s processing plant in Goromonzi, July 2023Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP

    However, if Europe does not become a mining continent, it will become dependent on countries like China for resources, particularly when it comes to lithium.

    It is possible to import lithium from more politically friendly countries such as Argentina, Chile, and Mali. But being dependent on international supply chains for crucial resources is untenable.

    A period of enormous change is happening

    We do not need to import metals from the developing world, even lithium. There are major lithium resources in the Czech Republic, Serbia, Bosnia, and Spain.

    Nickel exists plentifully in Europe. There are several large iron mines in Scandinavia, and copper is intensively mined in Spain and Portugal.

    The Vareš silver mine in Bosnia is due to start production this year. But all European countries need to be promoting the extraction of these resources if they are to have a chance of achieving net zero.

    Yes, this means mining, but it doesn’t have to mean mining in the way that Europeans and residents of other continents have historically experienced it.

     

    Darko Vojinovic/Copyright 2022 The AP. All rights reserved.
    An environmental demonstrator holds a banner reading: “No Pasaran” as a highway is blocked, during a protest against a lithium mine in Belgrade, January 2022Darko Vojinovic/Copyright 2022 The AP. All rights reserved.

    Yes, this means mining, but it doesn’t have to mean mining in the way that Europeans and residents of other continents have historically experienced it; the slag piles and the “pits” of the increasingly obsolete coal mines.

    The mining industry has been going through a period of enormous change and shifting towards something called “non-disruptive mining”.

    Non-disruptive mining exists — and there’s proof it can be done easily

    Non-disruptive mining means mines that run on renewable energy and whose transport logistics and water use is green.

    It means restoring the nature that is disturbed by mining in a way that preserves and enhances local biodiversity and being careful about all the social and environmental impacts of a mine.

    Most importantly, it means that the waste products which used to end up in slag piles — called “tailings” in the industry — are properly processed to recover all of the plentiful amounts of ore which they contain.

    Sweden is Europe’s pioneer in non-disruptive mining. Its carbon-free iron mine in Kiruna is a sustainable mining flagship for the world, and the Grängesberg iron mine in central Sweden is also a notable sustainable mine.

     

    AP Photo/Malin Moberg
    Reindeer herder Niila Inga from the Laevas Sami community walks across the snow as the sun sets on Longastunturi mountain near Kiruna, Sweden, November 2019AP Photo/Malin Moberg

    Sweden is Europe’s pioneer in non-disruptive mining. Its carbon-free iron mine in Kiruna is a sustainable mining flagship for the world, and the Grängesberg iron mine in central Sweden is also a notable sustainable mine.

    Several of the companies that are expected to mine lithium in the UK have already committed to using a range of sustainable mining techniques ranging from running a plant on hydrogen or lithium-ion power, transporting ore via electric conveyors rather than trucks, and souring electricity from an off-shore wind farm to be built nearby.

    Mining can be the bedrock of Europe’s green energy transition

    All of Europe needs to follow Sweden and the UK’s example and build greener mines, particularly copper, nickel and lithium ones.

    In addition to these national projects, Europe as a whole should be investing in research into and proactive exploration of the major metal deposits in Europe and putting together large-scale green mining projects.

    To achieve this, the image of the mining industry needs to change. Mining needs to become seen for what it is, the bedrock of Europe’s green energy transition and energy independence.

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  • Carbon tax loophole could flood Europe with emissions heavy metal

    Carbon tax loophole could flood Europe with emissions heavy metal

    [vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][distance desktop_type=”30″][lvs][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_btn title=”Source – Financial Review” color=”sky” i_type=”material” i_icon_material=”vc-material vc-material-perm_device_information” add_icon=”true” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.afr.com%2Fcompanies%2Fenergy%2Fcarbon-tax-loophole-could-flood-europe-with-emissions-heavy-metal-20230709-p5dmwh|target:_blank”][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_column_text]

    Brussels/London | European aluminium producers are warning that a loophole in the EU’s carbon border tax will lead heavily polluting exporters such as China to circumvent the rules and flood the bloc with low cost, emissions heavy metal.

    Under the EU’s proposed carbon border tax – a levy on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions produced during the manufacture of goods imported into the bloc – offcuts of aluminium which are remelted can be sold as a zero carbon product even if the virgin material was produced with coal or other fossil fuel power.

    Aluminium companies including Norsk Hydro and Speira told the Financial Times that the so-called carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) incentivised producers outside the EU to generate as much scrap as possible which would then be remelted and exported to Europe.

    “This loophole enables the widespread greenwashing of imported aluminium products and undermines the effectiveness of CBAM in preventing carbon leakage,” said Hilde Merete Aasheim, chief executive of Norway’s Norsk Hydro.

    Lightweight and durable, aluminium is vital for building aircraft and cars and is used in solar power components. However, it is the most energy-intensive metal known in the industry and is sometimes referred to as “solid electricity”.

    Aluminium production accounts for around 3 per cent of the world’s industrial emissions, according to the International Energy Agency.

    The adjustment mechanism will initially be introduced without charges during a trial phase that starts in October this year; producers will have to pay the levy from 2026.

    In the initial phase, it will cover seven different sectors including aluminium, iron, steel, fertiliser and hydrogen.

    The aim is to prevent products made with lower cost but dirtier production processes from undercutting companies within the EU that have to comply with the bloc’s stricter climate laws and pay for pollution under the EU’s emissions trading system.

    EU officials hope that it will promote more rapid decarbonisation in industrial sectors around the world.

    In the EU, smelters emit around 6.8 kilograms of carbon dioxide for every kilogram of aluminium, compared to a global average of 16.1 kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilogram, according to the trade body European Aluminium.

    But the loophole risks undercutting its purpose, say its critics. Ana Šerdoner, senior manager in industry and energy systems at the environmental NGO Bellona, said that some manufacturers “might use [this loophole] to reshuffle their exports a bit and make sure those scraps are remelted and sold to Europe as carbon neutral”.

    Europe’s aluminium producers’ claims come on top of concerns about a lack of rebates for exports containing imported aluminium that had been taxed, finished products such as cars or cans containing highly polluting aluminium being allowed in without paying for emissions generated in metal production and the loss of the sector’s free emission allowances.

    “The details and current design raise more concerns than opportunities,” said Volker Backs, head of public affairs at Speira, a large German aluminium rolling and recycling company, who warned of CBAM’s impact on Europe’s broader manufacturing competitiveness.

    Paul Voss, head of European Aluminium, said that if the measures were poorly designed the sector “will be undercut so badly there will be nothing left to decarbonise and it won’t help the planet”.

    Europe’s aluminium industry has already been ravaged by higher energy costs after Russia invaded Ukraine, leading to approximately half of the EU’s smelting capacity to shut.

    For some, opposition to CBAM is more fundamental. Nick Keramidas, executive director of EU Affairs at Greek aluminium producer Mytilineos Energy and Metals, said that the domestic producers facing soaring costs needed a level playing field.

    “CBAM threatens to cripple European production out of serving the European and global market. It would actually cause the problem it seeks to address by causing more carbon leakage,” he said.

    The CBAM has been heavily contested by countries outside the EU, which argue that it punishes producers in less developed nations that are economically reliant on exports to the bloc.

    The European Commission, which is consulting on the final details of CBAM until July 11, declined to comment.

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