Clean Energy’s Dirty Secret Lies in Critical Mineral Extraction
Canada Clears Path for West Coast Oil Pipeline Build Felicity Bradstock is a freelance writer specialising in Energy and Finance.
She has a Master’s in International Development from the University of Birmingham, UK.
Experts warn that critical minerals mining could go the way of the oil and gas industry if we are not careful, with developing countries worldwide being exploited for their resources.
As more countries around the globe invest heavily in growing their renewable energy capacity, governments are racing to secure their critical mineral supply chains to support the growth of the green energy and cleantech sectors.
However, rapid sectoral growth could threaten both the environment and communities in mineral source countries if not developed sustainably.
Critical mineralsare those considered essential to countries’ economies or development andare seen as the building blocks of modern technology.
They are key for the defence, healthcare, and electronics sectors, as well as for renewable energy technologies.
However, as companies race to develop new mining operations to extract these minerals, greater regulation must be introduced to ensure that the rapid growth of the critical mineral sector does not cause extensive environmental or human harm, with growing fears that critical minerals could otherwise become the “oil of the 21st century”.
Copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, rare earth elements, aluminium, manganese, silicon, and silver are all used in clean energy technologies, such as wind turbines, solar panels, semiconductors, EV batteries and motors, as well as in energy transmission infrastructure, such as power lines.
Mining for critical minerals is concentrated in a small handful of resource-rich countries, meaning that the landscape of these regions is at risk of changing dramatically in the coming years.
Meanwhile, critical mineral demand could more than double by 2030 and quadruple by 2050.
While the expansion of mining activities could contribute heavily to the economic growth of certain countries, higher revenues must not be the only concern when developing new projects.
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