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Critical metals and minerals:An Australian perspective
Dr Roger SkirrowResources Division, Geoscience Australia
Four Mile uranium deposit, SA
Your mobile phone contains over 50 elements*
(http://news.cnet.com/2300-1041_3-6244920-16.html)
Approximately 1.5 billion mobile phones are sold each year, consuming (in value order):• Gold (~51 tonnes, t)• Palladium (~22.5 t)• Copper (~4,000 t)• Silver (~525 t)• Platinum (~510 kg)
Also requiring . . .• Rare-earth elements (REE)• Tantalum• Indium• Tin• Titanium• Lithium• Gallium • Cobalt
* If you have a recent-model smartphone
BUT SOME OF THESE METALS AND SEMI-METALS ARE SUBJECT TO HIGH RISK OF SUPPLY
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Critical commodities – what are they?
Supply risk
US National Academy of Sciences (2008)
Economic impact of
supply restriction
4 (high)
2
3
1 (low)
1 (low) 2 3 4 (high)
Rhodium
Manganese
Indium
Palladium
Rare-earthelements
Gallium
Copper(non-critical)
Tantalum
Vanadium
Titanium
Lithium
Definition: metals, non-metals and minerals that perform an essential economic function but are subject to a high risk of supply.
(‘Strategic commodities’ are those important for military purposes)
Supply risk factors:
• Geological scarcity
• Lack of substitution or recycling
• Geopolitical instability
• Concentration of production and/or processing in particular countries or companies
• Lack of large-scale markets
• Production only as a by-product
• Limited methods of recovery
Highcriticality
PlatinumNiobium
Lowcriticality
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Uses of critical commodities
Industry / usage Critical metals and minerals
Steel-making and super-alloys (Fe-based) Cr, V, Ni, Mo, Co, Re, Nb
Light alloys (e.g. in cars, aircraft; Al-based) Ti, Sc
Industrial processing (catalysts etc) PGE, REE, Li, Ti, Zr, He, Sb
Electronics & high-tech In, REE, PGE, Li, Ga, Ta, Nb
Low-emissions energy production REE, In, Sb, Ga
Low-emissions energy usage (e.g. batteries) REE, PGE, Li, Ni, Co, graphite
Water & food security PGE, Cr, Ti, potash, phosphate
Catalytic converters in cars:platinum & palladium (PGE)
Industrial catalysts: woven thread of platinum
Magnets in turbines: REE (e.g. neodymium)
Super-alloys: rhenium in jet engine turbines
High-efficiency photo-voltaic: Te, In, Ga, Cd
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Demand: Leading importers of critical commodities
Source: UNComtrade, 2012
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Supply: Leading producers of critical commodities
Source: BGS World Mineral Statistics
Li, Zr (Al)
Case 1: platinum-group elements (PGE)
• $25 billion in import value (2012)*• Supply dominated by 2 countries• South African supply at risk• Australia has few known
resources • What is potential?
*Import value for top 5 countries in 2012: ~$25 billion USD (UNComtrade, Dec 2012)
(platinum, palladium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, ruthenium)
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Case 2: rare-earth elements (REE)(the REE are NOT RARE! Family of 17 metals including 15 lanthanides, scandium and yttrium)
Sources: past production from USGS (2013); supply forecasts from Roskill, Chegwinden & Kingsnorth (2010) and Kara et al. (2010)
Supply 2014(Source: Roskill)
Demand 2014(source: Roskill)
Neodymium production, and forecast supply and demand
future estimateshistorical data
batteries in electric vehicles
year
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Rare-earth element resources
Australia holds 2.2% of world’s REE economic resources but some of world’s largest sub-economic resources(Geoscience Australia, Dec 2013)
Critical commodities – Australia’s opportunities to supply global demand
• Australia is a relatively small consumer of CCs, mostly in imported goods
• Potash and phosphate (as in ‘NPK’) are some of the few critical to Australian industries (agriculture)
• However, a review by Geoscience Australia (2013) highlighted Australia’s resources of, and potential for, many critical commodities
• These represent opportunities to supply critical commodities to Australia’s trading partners
• Also opportunities for value-adding (e.g., processing, manufacturing)
Geoscience Australia’s assessment of critical commodities
• 34 metal, non-metal and mineral commodities assessed
• Level of criticality determined by ranking commodities in ‘risk lists’ of the UK, EU, USA, Republic of Korea and Japan
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Geoscience Australia’s assessment of critical commodities
• 34 metal, non-metal and mineral commodities assessed
• Level of criticality determined by ranking commodities in ‘risk lists’ of the UK, EU, USA, Republic of Korea and Japan
• Categories of resource potential indicate level of opportunity for Australian mineral resource industries
• Based on known resources and geological favourability
(very high)
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Geoscience Australia’s assessment of critical commodities
(high)
• 34 metal, non-metal and mineral commodities assessed
• Level of criticality determined by ranking commodities in ‘risk lists’ of the UK, EU, USA, Republic of Korea and Japan
• Categories of resource potential indicate level of opportunity for Australian mineral resource industries
• Based on known resources and geological favourability
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Geoscience Australia’s assessment of critical commodities
• 34 metal, non-metal and mineral commodities assessed by Geoscience Australia
• Level of criticality is based on UK, EU, US, Republic of Korea and Japan stated priorities, and reflects risk of supply and economic importance of commodity
• Categories of resource potential indicate level of opportunity for Australian mineral resource industries
• 34 metal, non-metal and mineral commodities assessed
• Level of criticality determined by ranking commodities in ‘risk lists’ of the UK, EU, USA, Republic of Korea and Japan
• Categories of resource potential indicate level of opportunity for Australian mineral resource industries
• Based on known resources and geological favourability
(moderate)
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Geoscience Australia’s assessment of critical commodities
• 34 metal, non-metal and mineral commodities assessed by Geoscience Australia
• Level of criticality is based on UK, EU, US, Republic of Korea and Japan stated priorities, and reflects risk of supply and economic importance of commodity
• Categories of resource potential indicate level of opportunity for Australian mineral resource industries
• 34 metal, non-metal and mineral commodities assessed
• Level of criticality determined by ranking commodities in ‘risk lists’ of the UK, EU, USA, Republic of Korea and Japan
• Categories of resource potential indicate level of opportunity for Australian mineral resource industries
• Based on known resources and geological favourability
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Elements concentrated in ore deposits derived from Earth’s mantle
Australia’s inventory of critical and other elements
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
• Study of Ni-Cu-PGE potential by Geoscience Australia just completed; 1st of its kind for the nation
• Identified areas of known deposits
• Also predicts many other areas with potential for Ni-Cu-PGE deposits
• Information for mineral exploration companies to reduce their risk in exploration targeting
Australia’s potential for mantle-derived deposits of Ni, Cu, PGE, Cr, V
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
Australia’s potential for critical commodities: tungsten, tin, lithium, REE
related to granites
• Also zirconium, niobium, tantalum, beryllium
• Geological potential currently being investigated by Geoscience Australia
• Tungsten and lithium: Australia has 11% of world’s resources of each
Tungsten-tin province
Tin-tungsten provinces
Tantalum-tin-lithium provinces
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015
1:1m Surface Geology
Geoscience Australia delivers national datasets to support exploration
Gravity
Radiometrics
Magnetics
Data from Geoscience Australia and State/NT Geological Surveys
Critical metals and minerals - Resources & Energy Workshop 2015