I have almost finished reading Arne Müller’s book ‘Elbilen och jakten på metallerna’ (my free translation of the title is: ‘The electric car and the hunt for metals’). The book is unfortunately only available in Swedish (ISBN 978-91-87949-86-9), which really is a pity, because it gives a very good overview on the current increased interest in mining in Sweden caused by the demand for critical or innovative metals. Arne also describes how mining is dependent on raw material prices and which legacies the former mining boom left behind in the form of environmental problems (problems is probably a too weak word when it comes to some of the disasters left behind by bankrupt mining companies and others). One chapter in the book deals with how the Swedish government promotes the mining industry, mainly with the argument that mining leads to more job openings in rural areas and that the ‘new’ metals are needed to accomplish the transition to a fossil-free future with a green technology.
What was really new for me was the enormous amount of metals that are needed for electric cars and their batteries: Cobalt, lithium, graphite, nickel, copper, etc. The demand for cobalt and lithium for example will increase enormously. On the website of Global Energy Metals Corp, I found the following numbers: total cobalt demand will exceed 120,000 tonnes per year by 2020 (as compared to 93,950 tonnes consumed in 2016); and projected battery consumption will account for ~60% of all cobalt demand in 2020, i.e. a 58% increase compared to 2016. When it comes to lithium, loads of prognoses exist in respect to demand and supply, some saying that the demand can be met, while others say that the demand is far higher than the supply. At least loads of people can earn money from making and selling these prognoses.
Browsing through all these supply/demand prognoses for different metals leads me to think about why does no one discuss or talk about recycling of all these most valuable metals? There must be millions (billions) of tonnes lying around in for example mine heaps, slags and tailings and in car and electronics junk yards. Why not taking care of these first, before opening new mines that will end up in an ecological disaster?
The International Resource Panel of the UN published a report 2011 on recycling rates of materials and stated that recycling rates are very low. I searched the internet for more recent information and statistics about recycling of critical metals, but could not find anything. I might not have searched enough or – there is a lack of data because only the most common metals are recycled.
We talk about fossil-free and green energy to save our Planet. But by using batteries to store our fossil-free energy we are on a good path to destroy even more of our beautiful world.
Barbara Wohlfarth 