Photovoltaic cells. Wind farms. Electric vehicles. Battery grids. The green revolution creating a sustainable future is clean and high-tech, but an energy landscape that doesn’t draw on fossil fuels is also a resource-hungry one.
What you need to know:
- To reach net-zero emissions, the world needs more mineral resources.
- Maximising the impact of these resources requires extracting them sustainably.
- Reusing and recycling minerals will help, but they can’t solve the problem alone.
- Electrification, automation and optimisation of mines helps make resource extraction less intensive.
If the world is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, the International Energy Agency estimates that we’ll need six times the mineral resources in 2040 as we do today.1
Many of those critical minerals are found in great quantities in Australia. According to the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Science and Resources, this continent is home to some of the largest recoverable deposits of high-quality cobalt, lithium, manganese, tungsten and vanadium, as well as other rare earth elements.2
These resources are not only critical to accelerating the green transition; they also represent billions of dollars in economic opportunity. But maximising the positive impact these deposits can have on decarbonisation will require green approaches to their extraction.
Among the green technologies that the Australian Government identifies as dependent on critical minerals are electric vehicles, battery storage, permanent magnets, wind turbines, solar photovoltaics, hydrogen electrolysers and LEDs.3
Australia is the world’s largest lithium producer and the Australian resources sector as a whole delivers $400 billion to $450 billion in exports each year.4 And that represents significant opportunities for the sector, with the International Energy Agency estimating that in a sustainable development scenario, demand for the metal will grow 40 times by 2040, mostly for use in battery storage and electric vehicles.
New and old
While mining these critical minerals represents great opportunity for Australia, extracting them will not be enough. The accelerating energy transition, uncertain supply chains, and environmental, social and governance concerns surrounding extraction point to the importance of adopting a circular approach to these resources.5
Recycling and reusing resources already in circulation will be vital to making the most of the green resources: remanufacturing wind turbines, for instance, can extend their life for 20 years, while there is enough cobalt in 300 smartphones for one electric vehicle battery. And since those batteries are usually retired with 80% capacity remaining, there is opportunity to put them to use in stationary storage applications.6
But although circular thinking will be important, mining these materials is essential for now. We simply do not have enough resources in circulation to meet demand. The global annual supply of scrap steel for recycling, for instance, is about a quarter of the current steel output, and sums are vastly lower for many critical minerals.7 Meeting the demands for new batteries alone by 2035 will require 94 new graphite mines, 74 lithium mines, 72 nickel mines and 62 cobalt mines.8
A greener future
Critical minerals are necessary for the green revolution but producing them is not cost-free. The carbon emissions created by extracting these resources are typically higher than other commodities, even though the technology they’re used in results in emissions reductions over the full lifecycle.
And as demand for critical resources grows, the methods used to extract them will also become more carbon intensive.
Australian lithium production, for instance, mostly takes the form of concentrate production from hard rock, which is three times more carbon intensive than traditional brine-based recovery. Growth in nickel production, meanwhile, is increasingly dependent on more energy-intensive laterite sources.1
To ensure mining these resources does not simply contribute to the problem it seeks to solve, it is important for the industry to rapidly decarbonise. Electrification, automation and optimisation of Australian mining plays an important role.
With ABB’s help, a Caravel Minerals copper mine in Western Australia, for instance, has adopted autonomous haulage, autonomous drilling and plant automation. ABB has also provided complete electrification and automation of underground mine incline conveyors at Cadia East mine in New South Wales, which also extracts copper. And electric hoists are boosting efficiency at Prominent Hill in South Australia and George Fisher Mine in Queensland.
The future can be a lot greener if we have the resources we need to see the energy transition through. It is now up to us all to provide those resources in a sustainable way — maximising the value of circularity and recycling, and minimising the impact of extraction.
References:
- International Energy Agency, The role of critical minerals in clean energy
- Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Critical minerals Australian Government, Critical Minerals Strategy 2023–2030
- Australian Trade and Investment Commission, A dependable critical minerals partner
- World Economic Forum, 3 circular economy approaches to reduce demand for critical metals
- Deloitte, A circular economy for critical minerals is fundamental for our future
- World Economic Forum, What is steel scrap and how can it help us reach net zero?
- Benchmark Minerals, More than 300 new mines required to meet battery demand by 2035
