Mining has not been particularly lucrative for New Zealand. It makes little economic sense to focus on digging for minerals, despite claims the new mines will aid in the country’s green transition.
Gold mine head gear, Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Resource laws and processes have tried to keep politics out of decision making. But this technocratic approach carries its own problems. The challenge is getting the balance right.
Martin Brook, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Shane Jones’ draft mining strategy is politically divisive. But New Zealand must face the practical and ethical implications of its own reliance on the critical minerals extracted elsewhere.
Conflict between coal giant Adani, the Queensland government and traditional owners over harm to groundwater ecosystems stems from a flawed interpretation of the ‘adaptive management’ approach.
As we launch into a Future Made in Australia, we need to map and better understand the social and economic risks – as well as potential benefits – for remote and disadvantaged communities.
Raw materials are key for the climate transition. Electric vehicles, for example, require cobalt, nickel, lithium, and manganese for their batteries and platinum for fuel cells.
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The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act came into force on 23 May, marking the bloc’s largest attempt to secure its own source of materials needed for the green transition.
States are once again turning to desalination to secure freshwater supplies. The problem is, they’re often choosing the wrong spot for ecosystems and fisheries
The Albanese government will invest $566 million over a decade on data, maps and other tools to promote exploration and development in Australia’s resource industry.
Controversies haunt Indonesia’s ambition for nickel processing. It’s time Indonesia move away from supplying electric vehicle battery material narrative and focus on sustainability.
People hold rally signs during a Toronto rally raising concerns and opposition to the Ontario provincial government’s plans to expand mining operations in the so-called Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario in July 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Ontario’s Ring of Fire could make Canada a minerals superpower, but Indigenous consultation is essential to ensure doing so does not harm reconciliation or Canada’s global reputation.
Mining’s high-tech transformation has dramatically increased safety – but there is plenty more work to be done.
An aerial view of pools of brine that slowly evaporate, leaving behind lithium and other minerals, in the SQM mine in the San Pedro de Atacama desert, in northern Chile, on April 18, 2023.
(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
The temptation to justify critical minerals mining at all costs is a dangerous fallacy. The social and environmental impacts of poorly mined critical minerals are dire.
Huge open-cut mining pits would be turned into reservoirs to hold water for renewable energy storage. It would give the sites a new lease on life and help shore up our low-emissions future.
Extractive mining is predicted to increase drastically by 2060.
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Extractive mining disrupts the balance of the planet’s ecosystems and is set to rise. Could urban mining or degrowth help curb unsustainable practices?
Aerial view of the Pinto Valley copper mine, located on private and U.S. national forest lands in Gila County, Ariz.
Wild Horizon/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Hard rock minerals like gold, silver, copper and lithium on public lands belong to the American public, but under a 150-year-old law, the US gives them away for free.
Icebergs floating in the ocean near Svalbard, an Arctic island chain on the edge of Norway’s proposed exploitation zone.
(Christopher Michel/Flickr)