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CRITICAL ELEMENTS FOR ENERGY

Elisabeth M. Price & Jonathan G. Price, Nevada Mining Association’s Education Committee, updated 14 May 2018

Using the and data on uses, production, and prices of the elements.

INTRODUCTION

The periodic table of the elements summarizes information about the properties of elements, including the physical states and chemical reactivity. This brief activity encourages the student to use the periodic table to discover the locations of elements and the symbols of those important to “green” energy (defined as energy produced from renewable sources or energy produced with little or no emission of dioxide).

OBJECTIVE

Students will survey the periodic table to find elements important for transportation, heating, and the generation, transmission, and storage of electricity, examine the properties of the elements; and look for patterns in the properties, as reflected in patterns of the periodic table. Students will discuss sources for the elements and the projected amounts needed for society.

MATERIALS

• One large copy of the periodic table per o Table should show state of matter, chemical symbol, and chemical name. • Optional: periodic tables for each participant with little information to be used for recording observations. • Table of sources of , “Critical Elements for Energy Technologies” (alternatively, use the latest edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Mineral Commodity Summaries, available online at http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/) • Blank world map onto which to plot locations of resources • Small adhesive dots (on which to write element symbols) to place onto world map (alternatively, use a pencil and write the chemical symbols on the blank world map; alternatively, project the map on the classroom board and write symbols there with erasable markers).

PROCEDURE AND QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

1) Students discuss and list metals and other elements needed for transportation, heating, and generation, storage, and transmission of electricity. 2

2) Where are elements located on the periodic table? 3) What properties would make the element useful for the generation, storage, or transmission of electricity? 4) What makes the elements “green” or not? 5) Are there properties of the elements that might cause environmental problems? 6) Students determine where the elements are produced. (This is generally where they are mined, although for some, we have data only on where they are recovered at smelters or refineries.) a) Write symbols of “green” elements on the adhesive dots. b) Using the tables of “Critical Elements for Energy Technologies” and the map of the world, place dots labeling the elements onto the map on the countries in which the elements are presently mined or in some cases refined. c) Discuss ways this information might be important to the production of energy in the US. d) Discuss why China is a major producer of more elements than any other country (use the population chart at the end of this file to stimulate the discussion).

Another approach is to assign one or more elements of the 44 elements (or 48 commodities) in the tables to each student. Have them either use the handout, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Mineral Commodity Summaries (latest annual report), or search the web to identify major uses of each element and the countries that are the leading producers. Have the students identify the elements that would be needed to generate electricity from , natural gas, oil, solar, wind, nuclear, dammed , tides, biomass, and geothermal resources. Then have the students use a world map to mark the countries that are the major producers (say the top one or the top three) for each element. Use the chemical symbols for marking the maps. Discuss the apparent uneven distribution of mineral resources.

7) Discuss why some elements are used more than others. a) Which of the major mineral commodities are used the most, as measured by the amount of global production? (List the top ten by weight.) b) How does abundance in the Earth’s crust correlate with which mineral commodities are used the most? Why do you think there is this correlation? 8) Discuss why some elements are more expensive than others. a) What are the most expensive elements? (List the top ten on the basis of dollars per kilogram.) b) How does abundance in the Earth’s crust correlate with which elements are most expensive? Who do you think there is this correlation? What are the anomalies?

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TEACHER NOTES

Consult the table, “Critical Elements for Energy Technologies,” for elements, amount mined or refined, and countries where the elements are mined or refined. Most of this information can be found through the US Geological Survey website, www.usgs.gov. Their annual Mineral Commodity Summaries publication has information about uses, annual production in the U.S. and other countries, prices, and substitutes for most elements that are used by society.

Examples of some elements used for generation or transmission of electricity:

• Fossil fuel and biomass generation of electricity . Carbon o Burned (in wood and other biofuels, coal, petroleum, and natural gas) to produce heat to boil water to generate steam to turn turbines . o Burned (along with carbon, in petroleum and natural gas) to produce heat to boil water to generate steam to turn turbines . o Used to burn the carbon • Transmission of electricity . o Wire used to transmit electricity o Wire used to carry the moving electrons generated by movement of a magnet through the coils of copper in an electrical generator . Aluminum o Used to transmit electricity, a substitute for copper, particularly in high-voltage transmission lines . o Used to transmit electricity, particularly as contacts for -based photovoltaic solar cells • “Renewable” energy generation . o Used for high strength magnets (along with and ) to generate electrons moving through the copper wire . Iron o Used for high strength magnets (along with neodymium and boron) to generate electrons moving through the copper wire 4

. Boron o Used for high strength magnets (along with neodymium and iron) to generate electrons moving through the copper wire . o Used for batteries to store electricity generated by non-continuous sources such as wind or solar energy and to store electricity in cars . o Used for batteries to store electricity generated by non-continuous sources such as wind or solar energy and to store electricity in cars . o Used in photovoltaic solar cells . o Used in photovoltaic solar cells . Copper o Used in photovoltaic solar cells (CIGS, or copper---selenide) . Indium o Used in photovoltaic solar cells . o Used in photovoltaic solar cells . Gallium o Used in photovoltaic solar cells . o Used in photovoltaic solar cells . Silicon o Used in photovoltaic solar cells • Other methods of generating electricity . o Used in nuclear power plants to produce heat to boil water to make steam to turn turbines • . Used to conduct electrons in many computer applications

Many other elements are used in power plants (, aluminum, silicon, oxygen, iron, and in cement for concrete floors and foundations; iron, carbon, , and many other elements for in buildings and supports; carbon for resins and silicon and 5 oxygen for fiberglass used in windmills; aluminum for supports for solar panels). High temperature turbines are made of nickel based super alloys that contain nickel, , aluminum, , cobalt, boron, carbon, , , , , , and .

Periodic table link: http://www.chemicool.com/

Printable periodic table: http://www.sciencegeek.net/tables/CA_CST.pdf

Printable maps: with country names http://english.freemap.jp/world_e/6.html

without country names http://english.freemap.jp/world_e/2.html

The US Geological Survey‘s Mineral Commodity Summaries annual publication lists the major countries from which the elements were mined in the previous few years. To show geographically where some of the larger deposits are within the countries, refer to U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2005-1294, Reviews of the Geology and Nonfuel Mineral Deposits of the World.

EXTENSION

Introduction

Mining, or use of mined materials, is driven by economics. If a company loses money in an endeavor, that company won’t pursue that endeavor for long. Although metals are concentrated in specific areas that make it possible to mine them, an average concentration in the crust, crustal abundance, can be calculated. So, a comparison of the price of a and its abundance can be made. Everything else being equal (such as geological processes that concentrate elements in ore deposits, metallurgical difficulty in extracting metals from ores, and geopolitical aspects of the uneven distribution of ore deposits throughout the world), less abundant (rarer) elements ought to cost more.

Of course, the price of a metal also depends on the demand, or the need for that element in products or as a medium for exchange of goods or services (money).

Studying the abundances, prices, and expected demands of metals can reveal some trends.

Materials 6

• The “Critical Elements for Energy Technologies” table (mostly derived from the U.S. Geological Survey’s annual report titled Mineral Commodity Summaries, available at http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/, a good source of information on annual production, uses, recycling, and substitutions) • Related charts showing comparisons of prices • Presentations by Zweibel and Smith about uses of metals for photovoltaics and rare earth elements, respectively. These are available as part of the Minerals for a Green Society symposium on 4 February 2010 sponsored by the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America at http://www.mmsa.net/.

Procedure

1. Using the charts and presentations, determine which elements will be in great demand in the near future. 2. Determine which elements may be in shortage. 3. Suggest what countries may be controlling the supply of certain elements and the products made from those elements. a. What factors might control wealth of countries? b. What factors might control wealth of companies involved in the production and use of the minerals? c. What factors control the prices of various mineral commodities? 4. Suggest reasons why the prices of some mineral commodities are either higher or lower than the general trend of decreasing price with increasing abundance in the Earth’s crust.

Prepared by Elisabeth M. Price ([email protected]) and Jonathan G. Price ([email protected]) for the Nevada Mining Association, 8 March 2010, updated 12 February 2015, 14 May 2018.

Data for the following tables and charts are from the U.S. Geological Survey, Energy Information Administration (Department of Energy), and CRC Handbook of and Physics, and various websites for prices of rare-earth elements.

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Critical Elements for Energy Technologies Page 1 of 5

Aluminum Aluminum Carbon Carbon Carbon Carbon Element (ore) (refined) Arse nic Boron Cadmium coal ind.diamonds nat. gas oil Chromium Symbol Al Al As Ba Be B Cd C C C C Cr 13 33 56 4 5 48 12 12 12 12 24 Abundance (g/t) in Earth's crust 82,300 1.8 425 2.8 10 0.15 200 200 200 200 102 Mined as primary ore Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Mined as byproduct of: Cu, Au, Pb Zn oil U.S. net import reliance 37% 61% 100% >75% 14% 0% <25% 0% 1% 0% 0% 69% Global mine production (metric tons) in 2017 1.04E+08 6.00E+07 34,840 4.67E+06 230 1.40E+07 23,000 7.27E+09 12 1.90E+09 4.72E+09 31,000,000 Top producing Turkey, country Australia China China China USA maybe USA China China Congo (Kinshasa) USA USA South Africa % world production in 2017 28% 54% 68% 39% 74% ~70% 36% 45% 31% 21% 13% 48% Other major Saudia producers China Morocco India China USA Korea India Russia Russia Arabia Kazakhstan %, 2nd 23% 6% 21% 14% 22% probably 2nd 16% 10% 29% 16% 13% 17% Guinea Canada Namibia Morocco Mozambique Peru USA Australia Iran Russia India %, 3rd 15% 5% 5% 13% 3% ~5% 10% 9% 23% 6% 12% 10% Brazil India Russia Iran Brazil Chile Canada Australia Botswana Qatar Iran Turkey %, 4th 12% 5% 4% 6% 1% ~4% 7% 7% 10% 5% 5% 9% India UAE Belgium Kazakhstan Kazakhstan Kazakhstan Indonesia South Africa Canada Canada %, 5th 9% 4% 3% 6% ~4% 7% 6% 3% 4% 5% Jamaica Australia Japan Russia Argentina Russia Russia Zimbabwe China Iraq %, 6th 3% 2% 0.1% 5% ~3% 6% 5% 3% 4% 5% Price ($/kg, 2017) 0.087 2.17 2.00 0.29 630 0.50 1.70 0.034 79,500 0.16 0.37 9.50

Energy uses power GaAs barite as Cu-alloy Fe14Nd2B CdTe solar power drilling for oil, gas, producing transport. stainless transmission, semicon- dense electrical magnets, cells; NiCd production; and mineral electricity; fuel; steel frames for ductors in mineral contacts but most B batteries steel resources - to cut transportation electricity solar panels solar cells added to sold as rocks with bits fuel and wind drilling mud embedded with turbines, to prevent diamonds lightweight blowouts in metal for oil and gas transportation drilling (cars, airplanes)

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Critical Elements for Energy Technologies (continued) Page 2 of 5

Iron Iron Element Cobalt Copper Gallium Germanium Gold Indium (ore) (steel) Symbol Co Cu Dy Ga Ge Au He In Fe Fe Atomic number 27 29 66 31 32 79 2 49 26 Abundance (g/t) in Earth's crust 25 60 5.2 19 1.5 0.004 0.008 0.25 56,300 Mined as primary ore Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes

Mined as Zr sands; other byproduct of: Ni, Cu Mo, Zn, Au, Ag REE Al>Zn Zn, Pb-Zn-Cu Cu, Ag natural gas Zn>Cu, Sn U.S. net import reliance 72% 33% 100% 100% >50% 0% 0% 100% 0% 18% Global mine production (metric tons) in 2017 110,000 1.97E+07 315 134 3,134 23,587 720 1.50E+09 1.70E+09 Top producing Congo country (Kinsha sa ) Chile China China China China USA China Australia China % world production in 2017 58% 27% 81% >50% 14% 48% 43% 36% 50% Other major producers Russia Peru Australia Japan Russia Australia Qatar Korea Brazil Japan %, 2nd 5% 12% 15% probably 2nd 10% 34% 30% 19% 6% Australia China Russia Korea USA Russia Algeria Japan China India %, 3rd 5% 9% 2% probably 3rd 8% 11% 10% 14% 6% Canada USA Brazil Russia USA Australia Canada India USA %, 4th 4% 6% 2% 7% 3% 10% 8% 5% Cuba Australia Thailand Ukraine Canada Russia Russia Korea %, 5th 4% 5% 1% 6% 2% 3% 4% 4% Madagascar Congo (Kinshasa) India Peru Belgium South Africa Russia %, 6th 3% 4% 1% 5% 2% 3% 3% 4% Price ($/kg, 2017) 58.64 6.28 350 120 1,358 40,510 22 360 0.120 1.40 Energy uses gas power One of the rare GaAs, GaN solar cells electrical cryogenic indium- steel for steel for multiple uses, turbines; transmission; earths; in conduction; applications; oxide (ITO); multiple uses, including towers for wind

lithium- electrical motors magnets electronics; heat- super- CuInxGa(1- including turbines batteries; LEDs, reflecting conduction of towers for wind x)Se2 solar thin electricity. turbines; rebar SmCo5 CuInxGa(1- cells coatings NOTE: data in concrete magnets x)Se2 solar from China cells are not available.

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Critical Elements for Energy Technologies (continued) Page 3 of 5

Element Lithium Molybdenum Neodymium Nickel Niobium Symbol La Pb Li Mn Hg Mo Nd Ni Nb Pd Atomic number 57 82 3 25 80 42 60 28 41 46 Abundance (g/t) in Earth's crust 39 14 20 950 0.085 1.2 41.5 84 20 0.015 Mined as primary ore Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Mined as Zr sands; other Zr sands; byproduct of: REE Zn Au Cu other REE Pt U.S. net import reliance 100% 40% >50% 100% NA 0% 100% 59% 100% 45% Global mine production (metric tons) in 2017 4.70E+06 43,690 1.60E+07 2,500 290,000 2.10E+06 64,000 210 Top producing country China China Australia South Africa China China China Indonesia Brazil Russia % world production in 2017 81% 51% 43% 33% 80% 45% 81% 19% 89% 39% Other major producers Australia Australia Chile China Mexico Chile Australia Philippines Canada South Africa %, 2nd 15% 10% 32% 16% 12% 20% 15% 11% 9% 37% Russia USA Argentina Australia Kyrgyzstan USA Russia Canada Canada %, 3rd 2% 7% 13% 14% 2% 15% 2% 10% 9% Brazil Peru China Gabon Peru Peru Brazil New Caledonia USA %, 4th 2% 6% 7% 10% 2% 9% 2% 10% 6% Thailand Russia Zimbabwe Brazil Tajikistan Mexico Thailand Australia Zimbabwe %, 5th 1% 5% 2% 8% 1% 4% 1% 9% 6% India Mexico USA India Armenia India Russia %, 6th 1% 5% 2% 5% 2% 1% 9% Price ($/kg, 2017) 7.00 2.26 73.99 0.94 29.01 18.00 60.00 10.14 28 27,650

Energy uses One of the rare Pb- batteries strengthen electrical steel Fe14Nd2B stainless steel steel catalytic converters earths - Ni batteries steel switches; magnets metal hydride lights used for batteries in electrical hybrid cars generators (wind turbines)

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Critical Elements for Energy Technologies (continued) Page 4 of 5

Element Pota ssium Rare Earth Elements Selenium Symbol P Pt REE Re Sm Sc Se Atomic number 15 78 19 57 to 71 75 62 21 34 Abundance (g/t) in Earth's crust 1050 0.005 20900 0.8 (Lu) to 66.5 (Ce) 0.001 7.05 22 0.05 Mined as primary ore Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No U, REE, Ti, Mined as Zr sands; other phosphate, W, Ni- byproduct of: Pd Zr sands Cu-Mo, Mo REE Co-Cu, PGE, Cu U.S. net import reliance 6% 68% 92% 100% 80% 100% 100% 0% Global mine production (metric tons) in 130,000 tonnes of 2017 4.87E+07 200 3.49E+07 Rare Earth Oxide 52 ~12.5 ~3300 Top producing country China South Africa Canada China Chile China China China % world production in 2017 53% 70% 29% 81% 52% 81% 28% Other major producers USA Russia Russia Australia Poland Australia Kazakhstan Japan %, 2nd 11% 11% 17% 15% 17% 15% 23% Morocco Zimbabwe Belarus Russia USA Russia Russia %, 3rd 10% 8% 15% 2% 16% 2% 22% Russia Canada China Brazil China Brazil Ukraine Belgium %, 4th 5% 6% 15% 2% 6% 2% 6% Jordan USA Germany Thailand Kazakhstan Thailand Canada %, 5th 3% 2% 7% 1% 2% 1% 5% Brazil Israel India Uzbekistan India Russia %, 6th 2% 5% 1% 2% 1% 5% Price ($/kg, 2017) 0.41 30,865 0.95 5.12 1,530 7.00 15,000 23.81

Energy uses fertilizer for growing catalytic fertilizer for catalyts; magnets high-performance (high- SmCo5 magnets fuel cells, high- CIGS: thin-film photovoltaic biomass converters; growing temperature) turbines intensity lamps; copper-indium-gallium-diselenide catalyst in biomass isotopic tracer for solar cells fuel cells fluid flow in oil wells

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Critical Elements for Energy Technologies (continued) Page 5 of 5

Element Silver Tantalum Tellurium Tin Titanium Tungsten Uranium Symbol Ag Ta Te Tl Sn Ti W U V Zn Atomic number 47 73 52 81 50 22 74 92 23 30 Abundance (g/t) in Earth's crust 0.075 2 0.001 0.85 2.3 5650 1.25 2.7 120 70 Mined as primary ore Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Mined as Cu>Pb,Zn, Au, Ti-Fe, U, byproduct of: Au, Cu, Zn, Pb Nb Ni,Au,Ag Cu,Zn,Pb phosphate phosphate Pb U.S. net import reliance 62% 100% >75% 100% 75% 91% >50% 94% 100% 85% Global mine production (metric tons) in 2017 25,000 1,300 ~420 9 290,000 4.26E+06 95,000 65,014 80,000 1.32E+07 Top producing country Mexico Rwanda China China China South Africa China Kazakhstan China China % world production in 2017 22% 30% 67% 34% 19% 83% 39% 54% 39% Other major Congo producers Peru (Kinshasa) Kazakhstan Indonesia Australia Vietnam Canada Russia Peru %, 2nd 18% 28% 10% 17% 19% 8% 23% 20% 11% China Nigeria Russia Russia Burma China Russia Australia South Africa India %, 3rd 10% 15% 8% 17% 11% 3% 10% 16% 10% Russia Brazil Canada Brazil Mozambique Bolivia Niger Brazil Australia %, 4th 6% 8% 5% 9% 8% 1% 6% 11% 8% Poland China Bulgaria Bolivia Canada UK Namibia USA %, 5th 6% 7% 1% 6% 7% 1% 6% 6% Australia Ethiopia Peru Kenya Austria Russia Mexico %, 6th 5% 5% 6% 6% 1% 5% 5% Price ($/kg, 2017) 553 236 36 7,200 20.94 1.23 30.90 94.89 20.47 2.78 Energy uses Electrical capacitors CdTe solar Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu solder light-weight lightbulb fuel for strengthen plating to transmission for cells oxide high- allows filaments nuclear steel; prevent Si solar cells temperature reactors possible use corrosion; supercon- in batteries solder ductors; possibly Tl-Pb- Te for converting heat into electricity; scintillometers

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Abundance of elements in the Earth’s crust as a function of atomic number. Source: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. 13

Price of mineral commodities (in 2017) as a function of abundance of the elements in the Earth’s crust. Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, Energy Information Administration, World Coal Association, World Nuclear Association, and CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. 14

World map from http://english.freemap.jp/world_e/2.html 15

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CuCu

(USA = 6%) (China = 9%) (Mexico = 3.8%) (Congo = 4%) (Peru = 12%) (Zambia = 3.8%) (Chile = 27%) (Australia = 5%)

Countries with 4% or more Other countries with production World’s leading producer of global production or major reserves Data source: USGS Resources are global.

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CuAu

(Russia = 8%) (Canada = 6%)

(USA = 7%) (China = 14%)

(Peru = 5%)

(South Africa = 5%) (Australia = 10%)

Countries with 4% or more Other countries with production World’s leading producer of global production or major reserves Data source: USGS Resources are global, but China is Number One.

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China has ~19% of the world population.

Data from CIA.

Graph of percentage of global human population by leading countries. Source: Central Intelligence Agency. 19

5 (6.6%) 1 15 (11.4% of land area) 1 1 1 4 1 11 (6.5%) 1 28 (6.4%) 3 4 3 1 1 2 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 3 2 (5.7%) 2 1 1 1 6 6 (5.1%) 4 1

Number of selected mineral commodities (among 44) for which these countries are among the top three global producers (with percentage of land area in parentheses).

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CuLi (Canada = 4%)

(China = 7%)

(Congo = 58%)

(Chile = 32%) (Australia = 43%) (Argentina = 13%)

Countries with 4% or more Other countries with production World’s leading producer of global production or major reserves Data source: USGS Lithium is needed in batteries for electric cars, etc.