DIGGING DEEP FOR A LOW CARBON world
Solar panels. Wind turbines. Electric cars. Batteries. Rail. The staples of the brave new world.
If we wish to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and maintain the energy and transport capabilities that underpin modern societies, there will be a massive growth in demand for emissions neutral energy and transport. As such, there'll be a massive growth in demand for the minerals that make them.
If we wish to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and maintain the energy and transport capabilities that underpin modern societies, there will be a massive growth in demand for emissions neutral energy and transport. As such, there'll be a massive growth in demand for the minerals that make them.
the nEed for minerals in a low carbon world
A passing glance at a power line, wind turbine, or electric car is enough to gauge that they are made of minerals. Batteries, solar panels, railway tracks, and trains are no different.
In 2017, the World Bank wrote a report on just how much mining may grow as economies try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The sales team at Komatsu and Caterpillar don't need to worry about what to do for work as coal and oil gets put on the back burner. The growth for demand in minerals is going to be enormous.
In 2017, the World Bank wrote a report on just how much mining may grow as economies try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The sales team at Komatsu and Caterpillar don't need to worry about what to do for work as coal and oil gets put on the back burner. The growth for demand in minerals is going to be enormous.
Across these technologies (demand for minerals used in electric cars were not included in the report) there is a need for aluminium, chromium, cobalt, copper, indium, iron, lead, lithium, manganese, neodymium, nickel, silver, and zinc.
GNS Science aeromagnetic surveys have identified prospects for some of these metals on the West Coast and elsewhere in New Zealand. Many of these deposits are on the conservation estate. For example, of New Zealand's land identified as prospective for rare earth elements (REEs), 79% is on the conservation estate. For land prospective for nickel-cobalt, both vital to electronics and batteries, 69% of potential reserves lie in the conservation estate. The figure for lithium, also needed for batteries, is 66%.
As such any extraction of these reserves on conservation land would have to be done with care. Some minerals, like tungsten, are also found as accessory minerals during the extraction of gold, one of the Coast's most common minerals.
To date, it hasn't been profitable to extract these minerals through mining them directly or taking them as an accessory mineral when extracting other resources, but with with improving technology and forecasts for growing demand, the West Coast and New Zealand could well play a role in providing the minerals needed for a low carbon future.
GNS Science aeromagnetic surveys have identified prospects for some of these metals on the West Coast and elsewhere in New Zealand. Many of these deposits are on the conservation estate. For example, of New Zealand's land identified as prospective for rare earth elements (REEs), 79% is on the conservation estate. For land prospective for nickel-cobalt, both vital to electronics and batteries, 69% of potential reserves lie in the conservation estate. The figure for lithium, also needed for batteries, is 66%.
As such any extraction of these reserves on conservation land would have to be done with care. Some minerals, like tungsten, are also found as accessory minerals during the extraction of gold, one of the Coast's most common minerals.
To date, it hasn't been profitable to extract these minerals through mining them directly or taking them as an accessory mineral when extracting other resources, but with with improving technology and forecasts for growing demand, the West Coast and New Zealand could well play a role in providing the minerals needed for a low carbon future.
Contact us
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Minerals West Coast Trust
Manager: Patrick Phelps Phone: 021 238 6846 Email: manager@mwc.org.nz |
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