Website: Europe.com

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][distance desktop_type=”30″][lvs][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_btn title=”Source – the Peninsula” color=”sky” i_type=”material” i_icon_material=”vc-material vc-material-perm_device_information” add_icon=”true” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fthepeninsulaqatar.com%2Farticle%2F15%2F02%2F2023%2Fsinkholes-sow-fear-in-former-polish-mining-town|target:_blank”][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_column_text]Photo by Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP

Kazakhstan ranks 108th out of 139 countries in terms of energy intensity of GDP, with its most energy-intensive sector being the mining industry. As the demand for solid minerals grows worldwide, experts predict a further increase in the energy intensity of metal production. This presents an opportunity for the country to capitalize on renewable energy sources (RES), as the mining industry turns to greener energy solutions.

During the 13th MINEX Kazakhstan Mining and Exploration Forum, environmentalist Elena Borovikova highlighted the potential for alternative energy development in the mining industry. The use of wind, solar, and biomass energy is on the rise, along with emerging green hydrogen projects. The mining industry, being one of the most energy-intensive sectors, can greatly benefit from adopting renewable energy sources.

Gold production is the most energy-intensive industry, with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per million tons produced. In 2017, over 3.5 tons of gold were produced globally, requiring approximately 250 terawatts of energy and resulting in about 75 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. Switching to renewable energy sources can significantly reduce direct and energy emissions from production.

There are already successful examples of alternative energy development in the global mining industry. Centamin’s Egyptian Sukari mine reduced its direct emissions by commissioning a 26-megawatt solar power plant with a battery system in 2022, saving 70,000 litres of diesel fuel per day. Similarly, Polyus Gold International managed to reduce its energy emissions by almost 100% by switching to hydroelectric power supplied by Russian companies.

Renewable energy use in mining projects has grown significantly since 2015, with most of the projects launched in 2018-2019 being hybrid, combining solar and wind energy with batteries. Kazakhstan has substantial potential for renewable energy development, with 130 alternative energy facilities already operating in the country by the end of 2022, boasting an installed capacity of 2,400 megawatts.

The renewable energy sector’s growth will lead to increased demand for metals such as copper, lithium, nickel, and neodymium, which are essential for creating solar and storage batteries and wind turbines. This provides additional opportunities for Kazakhstan, a country rich in mineral resources.

In 2022, Kazakhstan generated 112.8 billion kWh of electricity, with 4.5 billion kWh coming from renewable energy facilities. The country’s government aims to increase the share of renewable energy in total electricity generation to 5% in 2023. As part of its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, Kazakhstan is also considering building a nuclear power plant.

Kazakhstan has all the prerequisites for developing nuclear power plants, such as significant uranium reserves, processing products, and a strong scientific base. The country is also focusing on cooperation with Total, Masdar, and ACWA Power for implementing joint investment projects in renewable energy.

By embracing the green economy and focusing on renewable energy, Kazakhstan’s mining industry can greatly benefit from reduced emissions, cost savings, and sustainable growth. This shift will also contribute to the country’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, ensuring a cleaner and more prosperous future for all.[/vc_column_text][distance desktop_type=”30″][/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_section]

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][distance desktop_type=”30″][lvs][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_btn title=”Source – Coda Story” color=”sky” i_type=”material” i_icon_material=”vc-material vc-material-perm_device_information” add_icon=”true” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.codastory.com%2Fwaronscience%2Fukraine-lithium-export%2F|target:_blank”][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_column_text]Before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine, home to approximately 500,000 tons of high-quality lithium and vast quantities of rare earth elements, was poised to be a key player in the global transition to green technology. But as Russia has seized territory in Ukraine’s east and south, the future of the country’s critical raw materials has been thrown into question.

Even before the war, Ukraine was at least 10 years away from reaping the financial rewards for some of its in-demand raw materials, vital ingredients in many products from iPhones to fighter jets. Most rare earths are, in fact, not all that rare. But extracting and purifying the lightweight elements is expensive, dangerous and environmentally damaging. Almost all of Ukraine’s critical materials and rare earths can be easily found elsewhere. International investors might seek less risky alternatives.

As the war grinds into its second year, the European Union, the United States and other Western powers are making strategic investments around the world to diversify away from their dependence on Chinese and Russia-sourced critical raw materials — investments that will translate into mines and infrastructure in places other than Ukraine and greatly undermine Ukraine’s ability in the future to compete in the critical raw materials market.

“Most of the foreign natural resource development is probably off the table,” said Chris Berry, an analyst on critical raw materials at House Mountain Partners in Washington, D.C. Even after the war, investor confidence is likely to be deeply shaken. The demining process alone will take approximately ten years according to Ukrainian officials. Russia has contaminated vast swathes of territory with landmines and other unexploded ordnance.

The total value of Ukraine’s deposits is believed to be astronomical, a prospective loss to add to the estimated $138 billion worth of damage caused so far by Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure.

Ukraine and the European Commission had signed a strategic partnership agreement on raw materials in 2021, heralded as a significant step forward for Ukraine in the renewables space. It was an accord that also boosted the confidence of foreign mining companies moving to secure Ukrainian exploration permits, the first step in the mining process.

The Ukrainian government has not publicly announced how many lithium fields and promising areas are now under Russian occupation. Before the invasion, no lithium was being extracted from Ukraine. But several licenses were in various stages of development, including the Shevchenkivske field in the Donetsk region, the Kruta Balka block in the Zaporizhzhia region and the Dobra block and the Polokhivske field in the Kirovohrad region. Both the Shevchenkivske field and the Kruta Balka have danced along the war’s ever-moving frontlines.

Despite this, Ukrainian officials have presented an image of a stalwart critical materials partner to the EU, and last month Ukraine and the EU reaffirmed the strategic importance of their alliance. In December, Ukraine’s parliament passed mining reform legislation to increase the attraction of the country’s extraction industries.

The invasion coincided with the EU’s quest to seek alternatives from China in order to meet its ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The pandemic established the need to move away from single suppliers like China, while the Ukraine invasion underscored the geopolitical vulnerabilities for Europe that exist close to home.

China supplies Brussels with 98% of the EU’s supply of rare earth elements. It’s a supply chain that Olivia Lazard, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said needs to be reviewed.

In fact, the issue of raw materials tops Brussels’ political agenda. Last September, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the European Critical Raw Materials Act. “Lithium and rare earths are already replacing gas and oil at the heart of our economy,” said von der Leyen in a speech, adding that Europe has to “avoid falling into the same dependency as with oil and gas.”

While Europe has been moving away from reliance on Russian oil and gas, Russia continues to hold many of the essential elements for the West’s green transition. Russia accounts for approximately 7% of the global supply of nickel, a vital ingredient in solar panels. It is also a leader in the global supply of aluminum, palladium, potash and vanadium. The EU imports approximately $7.4 billion a year in Russian raw materials.

Russian metals and minerals have escaped the same kind of scrutiny that oil and gas exports have encountered. Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel, owned by the Putin-supporting oligarch Vladimir Potanin, has not come under Western sanctions. Russian nickel exports to the U.S. and the EU actually saw a boost in 2022. “If you look into the sanctions, you will see that the EU has been more cautious on certain types,” said Vasileios Rizos, the head of sustainable resources and circular economy at CEPS, a think tank. “The whole raw materials agenda comes from a more strategic perspective at the EU level.”

In 2020, Russia pledged $1.5 billion for mining rare earth minerals with the goal of becoming the biggest producer after China. Capturing raw materials on Ukrainian land will redound to Russia’s benefits, allowing the Kremlin to keep the materials off world markets.

Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group is believed to collect raw material deposits to shore up its finances. “This tells us something about the nature of the Russian approach now regarding security and defense,” said Lazard, the Carnegie fellow. “Geology is now an asset and geological exploration is a competency to wield in the global geopolitical competition.”[/vc_column_text][distance desktop_type=”30″][/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_section]

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][distance desktop_type=”30″][lvs][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_btn title=”Source – World Crunch” color=”sky” i_type=”material” i_icon_material=”vc-material vc-material-perm_device_information” add_icon=”true” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fworldcrunch.com%2Fbusiness-finance%2Flithium-mines-in-europe%23toggle-gdpr|target:_blank”][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_column_text]It is one of the great paradoxes of our time: in order to overcome some of our dependencies and vulnerabilities — revealed in crises like COVID and the war in Ukraine — we risk falling into other dependencies that are no less toxic. The ecological transition, the digitalization of our economy, or increased defense needs, all pose risks to our supply of strategic minerals.

The European Commission published a plan this week to escape this fate by setting realistic objectives within a relatively short time frame, by the end of this decade.

This plan goes against the dogmas of globalization of the past 30 or 40 years, which relied on just-in-time supply chains from one end of the planet to the other — and, if we’re being honest, outsourced the least “clean” tasks, such as mining or refining minerals, to countries in the developing world.

But the pendulum is now swinging in the other direction, if possible under better environmental and social conditions. Will Europe be able to achieve these objectives while remaining within the bounds of both the ecological and digital transitions? That is the challenge.

EV batteries

The plan presented Thursday in Brussels lists these critical or strategic minerals, which are found in so-called clean technologies, such as electric vehicle batteries or solar panels, but also in satellites, computer equipment, or weapons. Demand is only growing: for example, lithium for electric vehicle batteries is expected to be multiplied by 12 by 2030, and the rare earths needed for wind turbines are expected to be multiplied by four or five.

The EU is asking its member states, in order to ensure the sovereignty of the continent, to plan to extract 10% of the needs from European soil by 2030. A lithium mine project is planned in France, after years of the country having abandoned any mining ambitions.

It is also asking for 15% of needs to be met through recycling, a rapidly growing and virtuous sector. Another objective is to limit the share of a single third country in the supply of a critical mineral to 65%, so as not to end up, as in the case of Russian gas, in the hands of a single supplier.

[/vc_column_text][distance desktop_type=”30″][/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_section]

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][distance desktop_type=”30″][lvs][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_btn title=”Source – World Crunch” color=”sky” i_type=”material” i_icon_material=”vc-material vc-material-perm_device_information” add_icon=”true” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fworldcrunch.com%2Fbusiness-finance%2Flithium-mines-in-europe%23toggle-gdpr|target:_blank”][distance desktop_type=”30″][vc_column_text]It is one of the great paradoxes of our time: in order to overcome some of our dependencies and vulnerabilities — revealed in crises like COVID and the war in Ukraine — we risk falling into other dependencies that are no less toxic. The ecological transition, the digitalization of our economy, or increased defense needs, all pose risks to our supply of strategic minerals.

The European Commission published a plan this week to escape this fate by setting realistic objectives within a relatively short time frame, by the end of this decade.

This plan goes against the dogmas of globalization of the past 30 or 40 years, which relied on just-in-time supply chains from one end of the planet to the other — and, if we’re being honest, outsourced the least “clean” tasks, such as mining or refining minerals, to countries in the developing world.

But the pendulum is now swinging in the other direction, if possible under better environmental and social conditions. Will Europe be able to achieve these objectives while remaining within the bounds of both the ecological and digital transitions? That is the challenge.

EV batteries

The plan presented Thursday in Brussels lists these critical or strategic minerals, which are found in so-called clean technologies, such as electric vehicle batteries or solar panels, but also in satellites, computer equipment, or weapons. Demand is only growing: for example, lithium for electric vehicle batteries is expected to be multiplied by 12 by 2030, and the rare earths needed for wind turbines are expected to be multiplied by four or five.

The EU is asking its member states, in order to ensure the sovereignty of the continent, to plan to extract 10% of the needs from European soil by 2030. A lithium mine project is planned in France, after years of the country having abandoned any mining ambitions.

It is also asking for 15% of needs to be met through recycling, a rapidly growing and virtuous sector. Another objective is to limit the share of a single third country in the supply of a critical mineral to 65%, so as not to end up, as in the case of Russian gas, in the hands of a single supplier.

[/vc_column_text][distance desktop_type=”30″][/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_section]

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SOURCE: Aljazeera
Ukrainian miners work around the clock extracting coal to power the country’s war effort.

Deep underground in southeastern Ukraine, miners work around the clock extracting coal to power the country’s war effort and provide civilians with light and heat.

Coal is central to meeting Ukraine’s energy needs following the Russian military’s campaign to destroy power stations and other infrastructure, the chief engineer of a mining company in Dnipropetrovsk province said.

Elevators carry the company’s workers underground to the depths of the mine. From there, they operate heavy machinery that digs out the coal and moves it above ground. It is hard work, the miners say, but essential to keep the country going.

“Today, the country’s energy independence is more than a priority,” said Oleksandr, the chief engineer, who, like all the coal miners interviewed, spoke on the condition of giving only his first name for security reasons.

Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s nuclear, thermal and other power stations continue to disrupt electricity service as the war grinds on for a second year.

Before the war, the Ukrainian government planned to reduce the country’s reliance on coal-fired power stations, which contribute to global warming, and to increase nuclear energy and natural gas production. But when Russian attacks damaged thermal plants in the middle of winter, it was coal that helped keep Ukrainian homes warm, Oleksandr said.

The work of the coal miners cannot fully compensate for the loss of energy from nuclear power plants, but every megawatt they had a role in generating reduced gaps.

While many miners from the area joined the armed forces when Russian troops invaded and are now fighting at the front in eastern Ukraine, nearly 150 displaced workers from other coal-producing regions in the east joined the team in Dnipropetrovsk.

A man named Yurii left the embattled Donetsk province town of Vuhledar, where he worked as a coal miner for 20 years. “The war, of course, radically changed my life,” he said. “It is now impossible to live there and the mine where I used to work.”

“Life begins from scratch,” he said.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]