Category: Latin America

Conflict and Copper 2/13/2023

Conflict and Copper

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and Payne Institute Research Associate Aaron Malone write about how the global demand for copper has climbed dramatically in recent years, a trend that is likely to continue apace. Peru is the world’s second largest producer of copper. Yet the clamor for copper is an opportunity that the nation is unable to seize upon at present. Peru is now undergoing severe political upheaval and protests that have brought new attention to the underlying risks in extractive industries and supply chains. Production cuts stemming from protests and blockades could amount to 3 percent of global copper output.  February 13, 2023.

Musical chairs: Analyzing the evolution of stakeholders in Peru’s mining sector through dialogue tables 1/30/2023

Musical chairs: Analyzing the evolution of stakeholders in Peru’s mining sector through dialogue tables

Payne Institute Research Associates Alicia Polo y La Borda Cavero and Aaron Malone, Yezelia Caceres Cabana, and Ronaldo Quinta Soto write about how mining is an important but often contentious activity. Despite substantial research on mining dynamics and conflict, there has been less analysis of the stakeholders. This paper centers stakeholders and analyzes the case of Peru, asking: Who are the stakeholders in dialogues and conflicts around Peru’s mining sector? How have stakeholders changed over time, and how do they vary across contexts?  January 30, 2023.

POWER OUTAGE IN PUERTO RICO CAUSED BY HURRICANE FIONA 9/26/22

POWER OUTAGE IN PUERTO RICO CAUSED BY HURRICANE FIONA

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Research Associate Tilottama Ghosh writes about how the September 15th, power supply was ‘normal’ in Puerto Rico. Then increasing cloud cover was seen September 16th onwards, till Hurricane Fiona made landfall on September 18th. The cloud cover remained heavy till September 21st making it difficult to get a ‘clear’ view of the power outage. September 26, 2022.

Lithium mining’s water use sparks bitter conflicts and novel chemistry 9/13/2022

Lithium mining’s water use sparks bitter conflicts and novel chemistry

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jessica Smith is featured on this podcast exploring the impact of the world’s hunger for lithium-ion batteries, an important tool in the fight against climate change. Mining of lithium used to manufacture batteries in electric cars comes with a cost to the local environment and access to water. September 13, 2022.

Perceptions and realities of mercury contamination in a Peruvian artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) community 8/22/2022

Perceptions and realities of mercury contamination in a Peruvian artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) community

Rolando Quispe Aquino, Payne Institute Research Associate Aaron Malone, Faculty Fellow Nicole M. Smith, and Fredy Fortunato García Zúñiga write about how artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is the leading global source of mercury pollution. Efforts to reduce or eliminate mercury use in ASGM have produced limited results, in part because they do not engage the complex socio-technical nature of mercury issues in ASGM. The paper takes a multidisciplinary approach to understand the mercury issue with a socio-technical lens, pairing sampling of mercury in soils with surveys of miners’ and residents’ perceptions of mercury pollution and its dispersion.  August 22, 2022.  

CUBAN FUEL DEPOT FIRE CAUSES ENERGY CRISIS 8/11/2022

CUBAN FUEL DEPOT FIRE CAUSES ENERGY CRISIS

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group student researcher Elijah Mt.Castle uses satellite imagery to look at how a fuel storage depot in Matanzas, Cuba burned for 5 days. The fire destroyed 4 crude oil tankers in the port which made up 40% of the country’s reserves. The oil in Matanzas is mainly used for generating electricity. The country has already been experiencing blackouts in the last months and shortages on gasoline and other items. August 11, 2022.

CHINESE FISHING FLEET RETURNS YEARLY TO ARGENTINA 6/7/2022

CHINESE FISHING FLEET RETURNS YEARLY TO ARGENTINA

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group student worker Elijah Mt. Castle writes about a Chinese fishing fleet has returned to the waters around Argentina. This fleet has returned year after year to fish outside of Argentina’s economic exclusion zone (EEZ). The coastal waters inside of the EEZ are biodiverse and home to the second largest squid fishery in the world. Around half of the world’s shortfin squid is caught within Argentina’s waters. The shortfin squid market can generate upwards of $2.4 billion dollars a year. While legal to fish outside of the 200-mile EEZ, portions of the fishing fleet will fish illegally within Argentina’s EEZ.  June 7, 2022. 

Four Mines faculty members named Fulbright Scholars 6/6/2022

Four Mines faculty members named Fulbright Scholars

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Neal Sullivan and Marte Gutierrez were named Fulbright Scholars for the coming year.  Dr. Gutierrez’s award will take him to the University of Chile, where he will conduct research with faculty there on the impacts of climate change on landslides, rockfalls and mudflows in Chile. The research will identify localities in Chile and provide mitigation solutions for amplified geological hazard potential from climate change. Dr. Sullivan will be spending seven months at the Western Australian School of Mines (WASM) at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. The work he plans to conduct there will be similar to what he and his team work on at the Colorado Fuel Cell Center: developing next-generation materials for “green” hydrogen production. WASM’s work is supported by Western Australian companies, including Fortescue Metals Group, which has pledged to become Asia’s supplier of carbon-free green hydrogen over the coming decades.  June 6, 2022.

Mines launches new research center with Peruvian partner university 5/24/2022

Mines launches new research center with Peruvian partner university

The Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Paul Santi, Director of the Mines Institute for Initiatives in Latin America, is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo (UNT), located in Trujillo on the Pacific coast of northwest Peru.  This new collaboration agreement on May 9 to establish the Center for Research in Sustainable Resources (Centro para Investigación en Recursos Sostenibles) and to begin the first phase of collaborative research projects involving research teams and students based in the U.S. and in Peru.  May 24, 2022.

Water Security Issues for Lithium Mining in Chile 5/17/2022

Water Security Issues for Lithium Mining in Chile

Payne Institute Communications Associate Eleanor Igwe writes about how due to lithium’s central role in electric vehicle batteries, its demand is predicted to continue a steep rise and likely reach the level of two to four million metric tons by 2030. In addition to the stresses this will put on mining production and the environment – issues of water security are likely to become a key challenge.  May 17, 2022.