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Global resource extraction raises concerns about environmental pressures and the security of mineral supply. Strategies to address these concerns depend on robust information on natural resource endowments, and on suitable methods to monitor and model their changes over time. However, current mineral resources and reserves reporting and accounting workflows are poorly suited for addressing mineral depletion or answering questions about the long-term sustainable supply. Our integrative review finds that the lack of a robust theoretical concept and framework for mass-balance (MB)-consistent geological stock accounting hinders systematic industry-government data integration, resource governance, and strategy development. We evaluate the existing literature on geological stock accounting, identify shortcomings of current monitoring of mine production, and outline a conceptual framework for MB-consistent system integration based on material flow analysis (MFA). Our synthesis shows that recent developments in Earth observation, geoinformation management, and sustainability reporting act as catalysts that make MB-consistent geological stock accounting increasingly feasible. We propose first steps for its implementation and anticipate that our perspective as “resource realists” will facilitate the integration of geological and anthropogenic material systems, help secure future mineral supply, and support the global sustainability transition., Validerad;2024;Nivå 2;2024-01-16 (hanlid);Funder: Norwegian University of Science and Technology;Full text license: CC BY

Salars (basins of internal drainage) in the “Lithium Triangle” countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile) hold >50 % of the global lithium resources within lithium-rich brines. Given the imperative for lithium production to enable the energy transition and that salars by their very nature are highly variable, so a framework to both characterise their differences as well as identifying their similarities would be beneficial to understanding their provenance and potential for exploitation. In this study, data for 29 salars based on environmental factors: rainfall, evaporation as well as their physical characteristic: pan size and basin size have been used to characterise them along with those describing their setting land-use/cover and geological outcrop. These parameters have been normalised by creating a ratio of the lithium concentration divided by the factor for each salar. Cross-correlation has been used to develop relationships between these normalised factors, combined with principal component analysis to identify clustering and to further characterise groupings of behaviours. Two such relationships emerge out of this process: regional and local. Regional covers factors such as elevation, precipitation, and evaporation; local includes size of watershed, salar nucleus, land cover and geological outcrop in the watershed. However, Salar de Atacama is identified as an outlier and so the transferability of the understanding of its provenance and operation must be treated with caution. Other salars could be added to the framework as more information becomes available. The methodology presented here could help exploration by characterising salars into categories as their smaller size may not necessarily mean lower lithium mass. Further, such a framework can inform policy decisions and instruments by recognising the complexity of salars combined with the need to understand the environmental impacts of brine extraction.

The Foundation Industries (FIs) (chemical, cement, ceramic, glass, metal, and paper sectors) are worth GBP 52 billion to the UK economy and produce 75% of its materials and 10% of its total CO2 emissions. The UK extractive industry annually supplies millions of tonnes of mineral products used in FI manufacturing processes. It is estimated that mineral extraction results in upwards of 50 million tonnes of mineral waste every year. In 2021, the British Geological Survey embarked on a series of visits to UK mineral operations to improve the understanding of mineral waste production, composition, and its potential for use. This has enabled the sharing of data and information on poorly understood stocks and flows of waste materials between different industries and led to potential new applications for use of mineral wastes in novel polymer coatings and investment casting.

In this article, we explore concrete examples of circularity strategies for critical raw materials (CRMs) in commercial settings. We propose a company-level framework for systematically evaluating circularity strategies (e.g., material recycling, product reuse, and product or component lifetime extension) in specific applications of CRMs from the perspectives of specific industrial actors. This framework is applied in qualitative analyses—informed by relevant literature and expert consultation—of five case studies across a range of industries: (1) rhenium in high-pressure turbine components, (2) platinum group metals in industrial catalysts for chemical processing and oil refining, (3) rare earth permanent magnets in computer hard disk drives, (4) various CRMs in consumer electronics, and (5) helium in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. Drawing from these case studies, three broader observations can be made about company circularity strategies for CRMs. Firstly, there are multiple, partly competing motivations that influence the adoption of circularity strategies, including cost savings, supply security, and external stakeholder pressure. Secondly, business models and value-chain structure play a major role in the implementation of circularity strategies; business-to-business models appear to be more conducive to circularity than business-to-consumer models. Finally, it is important to distinguish between closed-loop circularity, in which material flows are contained within the “focal” actor’s system boundary, and open-loop circularity, in which material flows cross the system boundary, as the latter has limited potential for mitigating material criticality from the perspective of the focal actor.

Decarbonisation of the automotive sector will require increased amounts of raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements. Consequently, it is crucial to assess whether supply will be able to meet forecast demand within the required timescale. The automotive sector relies on complex global supply chains comprising four tiers. We have developed an integrated timeline from tier 4 (supply of raw materials) through to tier 1, the production of electric vehicles (EVs). Numerous factors, mainly economic, political, social and environmental, influence the duration of tier 4 leading to considerable variation between projects. However, our analysis demonstrates that it commonly takes more than 30 years from initial exploration to EV production. Tier 4, which is often neglected by the automotive industry, may account for 20 years of that period. This suggests that raw material supply is unlikely to match the projected demand from electrification of the automotive sector up to 2030. Reducing the duration of tier 4 will be difficult, although governments and industry can mitigate supply risks in various ways. These include multi-disciplinary international research across the supply chain and the transformation of research findings into policy and best practice. Supply chain convergence, with businesses across the supply chain working to develop long-term plans for secure and sustainable supply, will also be beneficial. In addition, global stakeholders should work together to resolve ESG challenges to supply. All these measures depend on the availability of researchers and industry personnel with appropriate skills and knowledge.