Responsible mining: Minnesota’s next big contribution
Two years ago, at the start of the Biden Administration, we wrote a commentary about the importance of mining to solving the climate crisis. “Motor vehicle electrification,” we said, “can’t happen without mining. The World Bank’s 2020 assessment of critical minerals essential to electric cars production, Minerals for Climate Action, predicts a 500% annual increase in lithium use over 2018 levels, a 450% increase for cobalt and a 100% increase for nickel to meet current climate targets. Copper production will need to increase by 1.5 million tons per year. Even with 100% recycling of existing materials, demand for newly mined minerals and precious metals will soar.”
We also urged federal and state agencies, mining companies, unions, communities, and environmental advocates to recognize that the era of responsible mining was upon us. Without a significant increase in mineral extraction fully integrated within a robustly developed circular economy, there’s no chance of meeting the essential target of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.