L1 - context of energy and resources

Question 1

how do we classify resources

Answer 1

4 groups: metals, non-metallic minerals, energy fuels and renewable resources

Question 2

describe each resource classification

Answer 2

Metals = incl precious e.g. aluminium, copper, iron

Non-metallic minerals = incl precious e.g. aggregate, cement, phosphate

Energy fuels = carbon and uranium

Renewable resources= hydrogen, solar, biomass, wind, geothermal and water

Question 3

what is the future demand for resources

Answer 3

Transition to a low-carbon society

Requires vast amounts of metals and minerals

Adequate set of raw materials to manufacture clean technologies

^ Ali 2017, nature (source)

In 2030 75% of our energy needs will still be met by carbon sources and 55% in 2050

Copper and aluminium very important for the future

Colbalt will increase by 2382% by 2030 from 2015 in batteries

Increasing demand in metals and non-minerals for high-tech materials and for infrastructure

Question 4

what are critical materials determined by

Answer 4

economic importance and risk to its supply

Question 5

what must critical materials take into place before it takes this title

Answer 5

Take into account environmental and/or ethical issues

Assessed on economic bloc/country/company/sector basis

Question 6

what are the reasons for criticality

Answer 6

Availability

Production as a by-product of other processes

Demand for high-tech consumer products

Virtually no recycling

Question 7

what is the share of deposits/ countries for key materials

Answer 7

75% of Pt is sourced in South Africa

Li 62% in Australia in 2018, 46% in 2023, Chile =24%

68% of copper and cobalt is mined in DRC

Question 8

define urban mining

Answer 8

contribution of recycling and reuse of batteries to reducing primary supply requirement for selected minerals by scenario

Question 9

what issues does urban mining face

Answer 9

Not enough material to recycle to feed into new batteries or materials – geoscientists will have to play a role as there is a continued demand for primary mining

Question 10

what materials face issues with demand

Answer 10

Graphite, lithium, cobalt, indium and vanadium face problems – will we have enough by 2050 when graphite and Li are predicted to face 500% increase in demand

Question 11

if scarcity of the materials is not the issue, what is the issue

Answer 11

Most materials are predicted to be fine

Global supply, but investment needed to access these resources and mine into them

80-90% of what we mine today = iron

All industrial and technology metals make up a very small % of what we mine today – investment needed to mine these products and find new ores

Therefore scarcity should NOT be an issue

Question 12

what is the economic context for critical materials

Answer 12

Confusion in reserve and resource estimates and how they are interpreted

Hinges upon definition of terms

Legal requirement to report of reserves and resources

Minerals that are economically viable are a tiny % of total resources

Question 13

resource and reserves are dynamic entities that change depending on what external factors

Answer 13

Mining

Metallurgical

Economic

Marketing

Legal

Environmental

Social and governmental factors

Question 14

what impact does mining have on the environment

Answer 14

Scars on landscape

Dumped in bodies of water

Waste piles can contain toxins which can leach into the ecosystems around them

Extraction produces a large number of GHG

Question 15

what impact does mining have on humans

Answer 15

Dangerous conditions

Locals start to dig up materials for own financial gain- dangerous – artisanal mining

Question 16

what should we do when mining to reduce environmental and human impacts

Answer 16

More sustainable consumption, more equality

Urban mining, circular economy -> less dependency on primary extraction

Increase exploration and delivery of new resource projects

Use of big data, geochemistry and geophysics in exploration -> extending resource base through research

Understand resources – from geology to supply chains

Innovations in production and processing, Biomining and other processing techniques -> increased extraction efficiency, Re-processing of waste tailings -> increased extraction efficiency, Drilling vs strip mining, horizontal drilling -> lower footprint, increased extraction efficiency, Use tailings to offset CO2 emissions

Question 17

where do resource deposits form

Answer 17

when a useful commodity is sufficiently concentrated in an accessible part of the crust so it can be profitably extracted.

Question 18

what factors need to be present in a resource deposit

Answer 18

Needs to be in an accessible part of the crust – deepest = 10.5km (Timber well) by average is 4km, we are unable to go deeper due to cost and heat – workers cannot work in those temperature and machinery wouldn’t withstand that heat and pressure

Concentration in the crust

Garde in ores

Clarke factor = enrichment factor

Price of extraction

Question 19

what occurs in the development stage of the resource project lifestyle

Answer 19

Can also use exploration mapping – max amount of the material for a reduced price

Exploration geophysics = magnetics and seismic technologies to identify where deposits are – reduces environmental impact

Drilling and core logging = physically see what is in the deposit, only way to really do this

Question 20

what happens in the production stage of resource project lifestyle

Answer 20

Open cast mining

Oil production platform

Milling and beneficiation

Production or refining

Question 21

Overtime in exploration where we find these mineral deposits has changed. What have to moved away from and what have we moved towards?

Answer 21

Overtime we have moved away from serendipity and prospector towards geochemistry and geophysics

Question 22

what are the roles of a geo-scientist

Answer 22

Mapping at regional and small scale

3D visualization

Observational skills

Numerical scale and use of geo software

Independance

Team work