peak minerals & resource sustainability: a cross commodity analysis
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by researchers from the Institute for Sustainable Futures to the World Resources Forum, 19-21 September 2011, Davos, Switzerland.TRANSCRIPT
19-21 September 2011 - Davos, Switzerland.
World Resources Forum
Peak minerals & resource sustainability: across commodity analysis
Damien Giurco Tim PriorLeah MasonSteve Mohr
Institute for Sustainable FuturesUniversity of Technology, Sydney
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CSIRO Mineral Futures Collaboration Cluster : Commodity Futures (P1)
1. Peak minerals
• Profile impacts: social, environmental
• Dynamics & indicators to inform response
• What role for technology and policy ?
2. Foresight
• Future scenarios and visions for the minerals industry in a sustainable Australia
• Link scenarios to technology (P2) and regional futures (P3)
Resource governance
for long term benefit
www.resourcefutures.net.auDamien Giurco Institute for Sustainable Futures; University of Technology, Sydney 2
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Key themes for this presentation
• Resource sustainability and ethical uses– Services required in sustainable economy; which from metals?
• Peak minerals: beyond ‘what year will production peak?’– reflects progression from cheaper/easier to complex/expensive
• Mason et al 2011 assess severity of peak minerals as– resource AVAILABILITY
– societal ADDICTION
– transition ALTERNATIVES
• Factors affecting production curves and options for sustainable resource management vary by commodity
1. Technological innovation, 2. Policy, 3. Resource conservation
Damien Giurco Institute for Sustainable Futures; University of Technology, Sydney 3
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Peak minerals metaphor: from easy/cheap to complex/expensive
Source: adapted from Giurco et al. 2010, Peak minerals in Australia
time
Annu
al n
ation
al p
rodu
ction
(t) lower costs/impacts*
higher ore gradesshallower mines
simple oreslow mine waste
higher costs/impacts*lower ore grades
deeper minescomplex /refractory ores
more mine waste
*costs and impacts are social, economic, environmental
year of peak production
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Ore grades declining: Copper & Nickel (Aust, Canada, USA)
Source: Mudd, 2010
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1885 1900 1915 1930 1945 1960 1975 1990 2005
Me
tal
Ore
Gra
de
(%
Cu
, %
Ni)
Australia (%Cu)
Canada (%Cu)
Australia (%Ni)
Canada (%Ni)
USA (%Cu)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Ore
gra
de (
% C
u, %
Ni)
1900 1930 1960 1990
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Energy consumption in Australian mining: rising intensity – 50% in 15 years
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Historical Production:Coal - UK
Source: Courtesy of Dave Rutledge, Caltech
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Coal – peak global production within decade
Damien Giurco Institute for Sustainable Futures; University of Technology, Sydney 9
RegionPeak
Year
Max
Prodn
(Gt/y)
Africa 2039 0.4
Asia 2016 4.7
Australia 2060 1.1
Europe 1973 0.6
FSU 2202 1.4
North
America2065 1.7
South
America2029 0.2
Total 2017 7.6Source: authors
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Peak minerals:Copper – Australia
Source: Mudd and Ward 2008
0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
2
2.4
1825 1875 1925 1975 2025 2075 2125 2175
An
nu
al C
op
per
Pro
du
ctio
n (
Mt
Cu
)
Actual
Modelled
AUSTRALIA
1825 1925 2025 2125
2.4
2.0
1.6
1.2
0.8
0.4
0
Ann
ual C
oppe
r P
rodu
ctio
n (M
t C
u)
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Changing impacts over time – Copper in Australia
Source: Memary, Giurco et al (forthcoming Journal of Cleaner Production)
TOTAL
PERt/Cu
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Peak minerals framework - Copper
Availability Addiction Alternatives
Cu Sulfides dominate; Cu oxides unprofitable
Expansion of Olympic Dam mine dominates
Uses are diverse (wires, pipes, electronics)
Electricity: Al can sub.
Pipes: Plastic subs.
Recycling an important alternative to mining
Australia currently makes more money from export of mining software than export of refined copper
Issue for Australia
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Peak minerals framework - Coal
Availability Addiction Alternatives
Worldwide, coal will peak before gas (Mohr, 2010)
Australia: availability will be constrained not only from physical scarcity, also farm land conflict
Uses link heavily with other sectors: electricity, steel, cement.
Future use will be affected by carbon taxes and CCS viability.
•For electricity, energy efficiency and cleaner energy are alternatives.
•As a reductant (e.g. steel making) biomass has potential
Australia gets over 50% of export revenues from mining; mainly coal & iron oreCoal dominates Australia's electricity mix currently
Issue for Australia
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Peak minerals framework - Gold
Availability Addiction Alternatives
Volatile: Historical peaks in Australia affected by ore discoveries; technology (CIP); policy.
World stocks above ground (122,000 t) greater than below ground (100,000 t).
Uses are predominantly jewellery then bullion
Getting 2g of gold for a wedding ring requires 10t or ore (at 0.2g/t) versus 10kg of mobile phone scrap at 200g/t Au.
Are there other ways to provide the societal value or services derived from gold jewellery and bullion?
Australia is number 2 global producer of gold behind China, what underpins our future competitiveness – "Brand Australia Gold", i.e. being a supplier of gold with good environmental / social credentials (cf. Responsible Jewellery Council).
Issue for Australia
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Peak minerals framework - Lithium
Availability Addiction Alternatives
Australia largest hardrock supplier of Li
Near term availability not constrained by geological factors
Small but growing market in batteries – demand depends on uptake of electric vehicles and alternative battery technologies not using lithium
Alternatives to dig and sell business model....Is there a useful role for a product-service system leasing lithium across mines; battery suppliers and electric vehicles?
Developing cost-effective technology for converting lithium from hardrock to carbonate (more readily derived from brines) for use in batteries will underpin competitiveness
Issue for Australia
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Conclusion
• Peak minerals useful for mapping life-of-resource challenges and transition thinking – services required in a sustainable economy
• Framework of - availability - addiction - alternatives is useful for comparing challenges across commodities and potential intervention points for more sustainable resource management
Damien Giurco Institute for Sustainable Futures; University of Technology, Sydney 16
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Contact details
Damien Giurco,
Institute for Sustainable Futures,
University of Technology, Sydney
Tel: +61 2 9514 4978
[email protected] www.resourcefutures.net.au
CSIRO and collaborating partners are gratefully acknowledged for funding this research
www.isf.uts.edu.au
Mineral futures collaboration cluster
www.csiro.au/partnerships/mineral-futures-collaboration-cluster.html