Category: Minerals and Metals Initiative

Why we must act now on critical minerals for a greener future 5/26/2023

Why we must act now on critical minerals for a greener future

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and Simon Moores write about how critical minerals are vital for modern technology and the advent of electric vehicles have driven them to the top of the geopolitical agenda.  However, there is a big gap between supply and demand, as well as a disconnect between miners and users of these key raw materials.  Stakeholders must act now to enable the energy storage revolution, with decisions made now impacting the geopolitical order of the next century.  May 26, 2023.

Saudi to play significant part in mineral supply 5/24/2023

Saudi to play significant part in mineral supply

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian discussed how Saudi Arabia’s entry to the mineral supply equation is “significant.”  The intent for Saudi Arabia to be a key player in the mineral supply chain for the critical minerals space was there in Saudi Arabia, as well as the building blocks to have a downstream presence through processing industries. This was, however, not without its challenges.  May 24, 2023.

EV manufacturers look ahead amid high lithium demand 5/24/2023

EV manufacturers look ahead amid high lithium demand

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian is featured on this podcast discussing on how EV manufacturers are dealing with increased competition to secure lithium used to produce batteries (second track).  May 23, 2023.

What You Should Do Is What You Can Do 5/23/2023

What You Should Do Is What You Can Do

Payne Institute Research Associate Baba Freeman is on this podcast discussing how as the world shifts toward green technology, how can African countries with abundant rare mineral reserves navigate and benefit from this change? What role do global financial systems play in responsibly investing in these minerals? With an in-depth analysis of the implications for developing countries in Africa and across the globe.  May 23, 2023.

Ensuring Sustainable Supply of Critical Minerals for a Clean, Just and Inclusive Energy Transition 5/22/2023

Ensuring Sustainable Supply of Critical Minerals for a Clean, Just and Inclusive Energy Transition

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and other researchers write about how the global clean energy transition involves large-scale deployment of a suite of renewable energy, energy storage and other new technologies. These are highly mineral-intensive and accelerated adoption of such technologies will significantly increase the demand for critical minerals (CMs). Challenges to sustainable supply of CMs include inadequate investment in mining, increased and more volatile prices, higher supply risks, negative environmental and social impacts, concerns about corruption, misuse of public finances, and weak governance. May 22, 2023.

Biden is scrambling for minerals. This U.S. cobalt mine just closed. 5/12/2023

Biden is scrambling for minerals. This U.S. cobalt mine just closed.

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributes to this article about how White House clean energy adviser John Podesta this week touted a cobalt mine in Idaho as just one example of a new domestic critical mineral project getting permits and coming online to support a booming electric vehicle industry.  There’s just one problem: The mine quietly stopped construction in late March, a victim not of government red tape but of the vagaries of a global marketplace.  May 12, 2023.

Russia’s War in Ukraine: Green Policies in a New Energy Geopolitics 5/8/2023

Russia’s War in Ukraine: Green Policies in a New Energy Geopolitics

Payne Institute Fellow Andreas Goldthau and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how Russia’s brutal aggression has wreaked devastation in Ukraine for more than a year. It has also forced a fundamental rethink of geopolitics. Central to that new thinking is the role of energy security and how to manage the insecurities created by the lopsided dependencies exposed by the conflict.  May 8, 2023.

Avoiding old geopolitical paradigms for new energy challenges 5/4/2023

Avoiding old geopolitical paradigms for new energy challenges

Payne Institute Sustainable Finance Lab Program Manager Brad Handler writes about how the US needs critical minerals for the energy transition, but its strategy for securing supplies should not mirror its approach to fossil fuels.  Washington has clearly woken up to the need to secure critical raw minerals (CRM), but it risks overlaying old frameworks onto new challenges.  May 4, 2023.

How can we decarbonize the metals industry? Mines researchers are working toward the answers. 5/3/2023

How can we decarbonize the metals industry? Mines researchers are working toward the answers

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow John Speer is featured in this article about how in the U.S. and around the world, there’s a push to cut greenhouse gas emissions by the metals industry.  Decarbonization in the metals industry has already begun in the United States, and we’re one of the cleanest steel industries in the world.  May 3, 2023.

The Mining Boom is Coming, but Where Can Their Workers Live? 4/28/2023

The Mining Boom is Coming, but Where Can Their Workers Live?

Payne Institute Research Associate Caitlin McKennie writes about how building out a robust talent pipeline for the mining sector through providing quality jobs to workers and advancement opportunities (i.e., training, upskilling, and next skilling efforts) will be a central factor for ramping up domestic critical mineral production and strengthening U.S. energy security. Yet, the labor force associated with nonfuel mineral mining in the U.S. has remained roughly stagnate over the last five years, and aligns with new statistics coming from employers.  April 28, 2023.