The world is building solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and other crucial climate technologies faster than ever. However, as the pace increases, a challenge arises: we need a large amount of materials to build all of this.
From cement and steel to nickel and lithium, the list of ingredients for the clean energy transition is long. And in some cases, getting your hands on all these materials won’t be simple, and the advantages and disadvantages are starting to become very clear.
So what’s the deal with critical minerals?
To deal with climate change, “we need to build a huge amount of things,” says James. And building all of this means a huge demand for materials.
We could need nearly 20 times more nickel in 2040 than the annual supply in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency. This multiple is 25 times higher for graphite and for lithium it is more than 40 times higher than the current value.
Even if people agree in abstract terms that we need to extract and process the materials needed to build things to deal with climate change, figuring out where it all has to come from is easier said than done. “We realized that mining proposals were creating community tensions basically anywhere in the US,” says James.
There are backlashes to all types of climate technology projects — we’ve seen very strong opposition to wind farm proposals, for example. But there appears to be an additional layer of concerns about mining, says James. Among other reasons, it is a legacy sector with a particularly problematic past in terms of environmental impact.
Even as communities raise concerns about new mining projects, “you also see the companies proposing them emphasizing the potential benefits for clean technology and climate goals,” says James. This combination of clear potential benefits and community concerns was worth exploring, he told me.
What does a proposed nickel mine near a small town in Minnesota tell us about the conflict over critical minerals?
The town of Tamarack, Minnesota, has a population of about 70.
Despite its small size, it could soon hold the key to a crucial milestone for climate technology, as Talon Metals wants to build a huge mine outside the city that could extract up to 725,000 metric tons of raw ore per year. The main target is nickel, a metal crucial for building high-performance batteries for electric vehicles.
Talon has been very explicit in stating that this mine would bring benefits to the planet, going so far as to request a trademark for the term “Green Nickel”. That’s one of the reasons this particular location piqued James’s interest, he said.
At the same time, local concerns are growing. Drilling could release 2.6 million gallons of water into the mine every day, which Talon plans to pump and treat before being released into nearby wetlands. This part of the plan caused the most unrest, as local freshwater is essential to the community’s economy and identity.
The central tension became abundantly clear on a nearly weeklong trip to Tamarack and surrounding communities, James says. He went to Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge and learned about the native wild rice that grows there and its importance to indigenous groups. He went to see samples of the ore that Talon had excavated and talked to a geologist about the region’s resources. He also attended community meetings that got a little heated and even had to face off with some local bees.
“We’re talking about a story of two different, very precious resources that created a very difficult conflict,” he says. “It’s a tension that will ultimately be very difficult to resolve.”
There are rarely easy answers when it comes to the enormous task of addressing climate change. If you’re interested in better understanding this complicated web of tradeoffs, take the time to read James’ story. You’ll get all the details on why this particular deposit is so important, and learn more about where things are likely to go from here.
And the story doesn’t stop there. James also launched another major project, where he worked to understand how this mine could unlock billions of dollars in government subsidies.
( source: Casey Crownhart/ MIT Technology Review)
