Brief Abstract:
The world needs a range of metals and minerals to meet the sustainable development challenges of this century, such as renewable energy and climate change, electronics, telecommunications, transport, energy storage, infrastructure and a variety of specialty military technologies. The metals and minerals which underpin such transformations are commonly not primary products but are instead extracted opportunistically whilst refining other primary metals. For example, indium or gallium can be extracted during the refining of zinc, tellurium from copper or gold smelting / refining, or rhenium from molybdenum concentrate roasting. Part of the challenge has been that these sectors have been small and modest in value – leading to minimal reported data in resources, mining and smelting / refining. Furthermore, these markets have become dominated by a small number of companies or countries (sometimes even a single country), some of which are not viewed as politically stable (or trade friendly). The growing importance of these minerals combined with concerns about the reliability of supply has given rise to their labelling as ‘critical minerals’, with a variety of policy interest around the world. Given that the world has rich endowments of many primary metals, it is therefore reasonable that the world should host substantial endowments of critical minerals. Using established geochemical correlations combined with traditional resource assessments, we have developed what we believe to be a world first assessment of the world’s likely endowment of critical minerals. This assessment provides confidence that the world can meaningfully plan for the ongoing technological transformation, potentially adding additional sources of revenue alongside primary metals and minerals. Overall, this presentation will give a brief overview of critical minerals and methods for assessing their endowments around the world.
Brief Biography:
Assoc. Prof. Gavin Mudd has been at the forefront of research on the sustainability of modern mining for over 20 years, with detailed research across almost sectors of the industry. To date, he has published over 200 scientific and technical papers and reports, about two-thirds of which are peer-reviewed. In recent years, Gavin has published world-leading papers on the global mineral resources of copper, uranium, lead-zinc, nickel, platinum group elements, rare earth elements, indium, and together with PhD students has helped pioneer approaches to quantifying critical minerals despite the lack of directly reported data. He has worked closely with local and indigenous communities across Australia, Papua New Guinea, parts of Africa and elsewhere – helping to navigate and support understanding of the environmental risks and management of mining (e.g. water, tailings, rehabilitation, energy-carbon issues, etc). Gavin’s reputation has seen him contribute to projects for the International Resources Panel, UN Environment’s Global Environmental Outlook-6th Edition, Geoscience Australia, Columbia University, Yale University and a range of other international research and consulting projects. Overall, Gavin is a unique and world-leading expert voice on mining and sustainable development and perfectly placed to communicate the challenges and opportunities for Australia and critical minerals.