Regardless of your opinion of the reality and/or causes of climate change, I suspect these are the relevant questions for the mining industry:
- What will climate change mean to the mining industry?
- How can the mining industry avoid negative impacts of climate change?
- How can the mining industry benefit from climate change?
I speculate that the first issue arising from climate change that may affect the mining industry is a growing shortage of water, or at least an increasing cost to getting the water needed to operate a mine. There may be greater social conflict involved in securing access to water between the mine and the surrounding inhabitants. Do we need increased research on minimizing water consumption in mining and processing?
A climate change issues that will affect the mining industry is greenhouse gas emissions. Greg Dipple of the University of British Columbia forwarded me a superb paper called Verifying and quantifying carbon fixation in minerals from serpentine-rich mine tailings using the Rietveld method with X-ray powder diffraction data. An abstract is available at this link. The full paper, for which you will have to pay $25, is available at this link.
Opportunities for the mining industry associated with climate change must surely lie in provision of the materials that will be needed to build the facilities needed to cope with climate change. The supply of soil and aggregate to build the dikes and berms to limit flood damage is an obvious example.
Somehow I am sanguine. I cannot but believe that mankind will respond with normal resolution and enterprise. I must believe that free markets in democratic countries will make money making people comfortable. Even if that money-making involves selling research reports on the technologies needed to survive, succeed, and prosper.
Swiss Re has a fascinating report: Opportunities and risk of climate change. The report does not address mining, but the broader principles it sets out may be worth considering in trying to answer my questions. The Scientific American names Swiss Re Business Leader of the Year. I suspect this is based primarily on their e-publications on the implications of climate change and hence insurance costs. An example is the report The effects of climate change: Storm damage in Europe on the rise. (I repeat the Swiss Re site link—their system precludes me from linking you directly to the reports—but the site is easy enough to negotiate.)
A report in a similar vein is from Marsh – McLennan: Climate Change Risk. This report reminds us of the opportunities inherent in green industries, the need for appropriate insurance, and adoption of risk management programs.
And so it goes. If you have the answers, please post them in the comment box below.
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February 28, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Roy Wares
I am surprised with the lack of comment on this subject.
Energy efficiency may be a good business strategy as well as a good strategic environmental policy.
But my question is on the operation of a carbon credit scheme for mining operations. If some nations mandate it and others do not, where will mining investment migrate ? Smelters are not something that can be moved at short notice or for that matter, built at short notice.
What do the mining strategists say ?
March 10, 2007 at 7:08 am
Armen
How else can the mining industry benefit from climate change?
Well, a novel way to benefit the mining idustry is to use alkaline waste water (ie, from coal mining and washeries) as a feedstock in a carbon-to-products conversion technology developed by Geo-Processors Pty Limited of Sydney, Australia. Check the following press release or go to http://www.geo-processors.com for the announcement.
http://www.einnews.com/pr-news/8782-breakthrough-carbon-capture-technology-that-turns-wastewater-to-resource
The technology, identified as “Carbon Capture and Products Recovery” (CCPR) system, enables the beneficial use of massive volumes of bicarbonate-rich waste water produced by mining and energy industries which needs safe disposal at a significant cost to these industries.
In this technology the alkaline waste water is first reacted with cheap lime or dolime to generate a useful mineral product and a caustic spent water. The caustic solution is brought into contact with CO2 of ambient air (or from a point-source) and then reacted with lime to regenerate a carbonate mineral and an alkaline water which is suitable for the next round of CO2 capture. The CCPR system is thus a closed-loop system in which the CO2 capture and product recovery cycles can be repeated. The byproducts recovery steps may include co-generation of a high-grade CO2 gas from calcining of the carbonate minerals for internal use or optionally sequestrated. Sequestration may be achieved in many ways including but not limted to geosequestration, mineral carbonation or bubbling through serpentine-rich tailings slurry.
As promoted by Dr. Arakel (President of Geo-Processors) we need a paradigm shift in produced water management from a “wastewater disposal” to “resource recovery” strategy. Sooner the minining and mineral processing industries identify and embrace the opportunities the better for our global Community and the Environment.
Armen from Geo-Processors USA, Inc. Glendale, California