Under Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy, the government promises to be “a powerhouse in the extraction and upgrading of critical minerals,” starting with new and expanded mines in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario’s “Ring of Fire.”
Mining and minerals have always been important, but the renewable energy revolution will require even more copper, zinc, cobalt, nickel, lithium and “rare earth” minerals. As Christopher Pollon writes in Pitfall: The Race to Mine the World’s Most Vulnerable Places, “metals and minerals extraction rose almost five-fold between 1970 and 2017.” Demand for renewable energy technologies, data centres, artificial intelligence and weapons is fuelling increasingly faster growth.
Along with Canada’s plans, the United States administration is eyeing Greenland and Canada (both sources of “critical minerals”), Russia has invaded mineral-rich Ukraine and is making moves in the Arctic, and China is opening mines worldwide.
Pollon writes that, “mining by its very definition is unsustainable.” Toxic tailings ponds, excessive water use, scarred landscapes, pollution-related health problems, massive amounts of energy required for operations, worker exploitation — mining is a costly enterprise. That’s true no matter how or where it’s done — open pit or underground, using fossil-fuelled or renewable-powered machinery, on land, in the ocean, in urban scrapyards or in space.
Those living in regions or countries where mines are located often see few, if any benefits, with minerals and profits going to foreign corporations, while locals, mostly Indigenous Peoples, are left with the damage.
Mining is necessary, though, if we’re to move away from coal, oil and gas, and enjoy modern conveniences such as smartphones, electric vehicles, efficient appliances and more.
Most of us, especially in cities, rarely think about mining, but its products surround us. In Power Metal: The Race for Resources that Will Shape the Future, Vince Beiser writes that, “Mobile phones can contain as many as two thirds of all the elements in the periodic table, including dozens of different metals.” To obtain copper alone, “Seventy-five pounds of ore have to be wrested out of the earth to build a single four-and-a-half-ounce iPhone.”
“How do we secure the metals our civilization needs without destroying the environment and violating the rights of the planet’s most vulnerable people?” Pollon asks. Both authors argue that we must change more than how we extract minerals.
We often hear of the three Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. Recycling is important, and is already being done. “Urban mining,” for example, is the practice of collecting discarded metals or metal-containing products to extract valuable minerals such as copper. Pollon writes that recycling EV batteries can reduce “primary demand” (i.e., from mining) by 25 per cent for lithium, 35 per cent for cobalt and nickel and 55 per cent for copper.
But, as Beiser notes, “Recycling helps. But as a solution, it’s utterly inadequate. While recycling does save energy and can reduce the amount of raw materials we use, it too comes with tremendous costs.” It’s energy-intensive, can create pollution and toxic byproducts and is often done by poor people under dangerous conditions.
Reusing is better, although that can be difficult in an era of planned obsolescence. Pollon writes that metals reuse is a growing industry, “worth at least $230 billion in 2021.” Think refurbished electronic devices and expanding Asian and African markets for used products.
Both authors stress that we have to rethink our relationship to mining, energy and natural resources. Many solutions are necessary, including better mining techniques and practices, along with recycling and reusing, but we must also reduce consumption, especially in the wasteful West.
Above all, we have to jettison “the idea that we will need to replace the roughly 1.4 billion gasoline- and diesel-burning cars, trucks, and buses in the world with EVs,” Pollon says. Private automobiles are wasteful, inefficient and, ultimately, unnecessary. As Beiser writes, “Reducing demand for cars will do more than anything to reduce demand for critical metals.” It will also save lives lost to pollution and collisions.
That means expanding (electric) public transit and other transportation services, as well as improving urban design to make cities more amenable to walking, cycling and more.
We must phase out fossil fuels, but we also have to ensure we’re not trading one set of problems for another. These important books offer some sensible solutions.
David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with David Suzuki Foundation Senior Writer and Editor Ian Hanington.
