Minefacts a Collection of Facts About Mining, the Permit Granting Process, Economy and the Environment Aitik
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MineFacts A collection of facts about mining, the permit granting process, economy and the environment Aitik. Photo: Boliden Photo: Aitik. MINEFACTS A collection of facts about mines This material has been produced as part of the project MineFacts, an EU funded project carried out during 2017 with the purpose of producing easily accessible, objective and general facts about prospecting and mining operations, which if wished can be used without restriction, above all by municipalities and regions in northern Finland, Sweden and Norway. We chose to produce this material in all three languages, and to add nation specific facts where we considered it necessary (for example the different countries have partially different steps in their permit granting processes for mining permits). The material also includes a slimmed PowerPoint presentation which may be studied and used without restriction. The project aims to increase the general level of awareness in this area and to give municipalities and regions help, based on this material, to communicate objective and fact-based information to their inhabitants – for example in a situation where new or increased prospecting or mining operations can be expected. In the course of the project we visited over 30 different municipalities in the three countries to gather information about what the municipal representatives in these municipalities consider extra important to include in the material. Through the year we have organised workshops, worked with reference groups and presented the project in different contexts. After the activities described, our opinion is that the need for this type of basic, objective and fact-based information is considerable. We would like to express our gratitude to everyone who in different ways has contributed during the project and at the same time welcome those wishing to use this material. A big thank you to EIT RawMaterials which financed the project and so made our work possible. The chief project manager has been Laura S Lauri, GTK (The Geological Survey of Finland). Other parties working with the project have been SGU (The Geological Survey of Sweden), Luleå University of Technology, the University of Lapland, LTU Business and Sodankylä Municipality. In addition, AA Sakatti Mining, Boliden and Nussir have participated. Contacts for questions or views on the material: Finland and Norway: [email protected] Sweden: [email protected] Project number of MineFacts: #16429 This activity has received funding from the European Institute of Innovation Any statement in this document reflects only the and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, under the Horizon author's view and the EIT is not responsible for 2020, the EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation any use that may be made of the information it. Do we need Is recovery The permit MineFacts metals? sufficient? granting process 1 2 3 Who benefits Geology and Life of mine and from the mine? Exploration mining the environment 4 5 6 7 1. Do we need metals? What are metals? How much do we use and for what? METALS AND SOCIETY 600 kg of copper and 15 t of iron, and several tons of other metals and minerals. Since the early history of mankind we have used metals in everything from implements and Metals are elements extracted from our bedrock. buildings, to food supplements. Originally they Metals are finite resources, that is to say there is were metals that are easily accessible, for example only a certain quantity of metals. At the same copper and iron. time, metals are elements which in many cases can be recovered an infinite number of times without Through smarter technology the number of losing their properties. However, there can be metals we use has increased exponentially. Several technical difficulties in recovering certain metals. metals are used to form alloys to make use of the Our metal production comes from mines, which properties of different metals. Others are used in extract so-called primary raw materials from the technology such as touch screens, circuit boards or bedrock, and from waste recovery. Steel, which fibre optic cables. is the most common metallic product, occurs in thousands of different varieties and sorts and With an increasing population and rising standard can contain a number of metals which have been of living in many places, the need of metals is alloyed into steel. increasing. For example, a person uses on average Figure 1. Zinc from Sweden. Zinc is used in for example stainless steel. Photo: Boliden. 1 FACT: How many elements do we use every day? Modern technology, such as smartphones, solar cells, electric cars and airplanes, need many different materials and elements to work. Throughout the ages, the number of elements used by people in different objects has increased dramatically, from only a few to almost all in the periodic table. The figure below shows a handful of the most important, but far more elements are used today in smaller amounts. Figure 2. Illustration: SGU with inspiration from BP. 2 3 2. Is recovery sufficient? Our modern society needs metals and minerals, but can these needs be met through recovery? What metals can be recovered, and to what extent? RECOVERY IN SWEDEN metallic elements whose recovery is of interest. Table 1. Use, mining production and recovery of metals in Sweden, tons (WBMS April 2014, SGU 2014:3, UNCTAD 2013). The world’s need of metals and minerals is great In Sweden we are good at metal recovery. Since Metal Use Mine Recovery and growing. Recovery and recycling are among the 1950s the recovery of precious metals and production the most energy-effective actions to limit the scrap containing iron, steel and base metals has Iron 4 326 000 27 285 000 2 032 000 environmental impact of the mining and minerals drastically increased, steel scrap from 50 per cent Copper 121 800 82 760 65 300 industry. Our society generates huge quantities of to 92 per cent by the year 2010. As regards other Lead 17 000 59 466 49 300 waste. The development of among other things less common metals, recovery is still at a modest Zinc 23 900 175 711 730 electronic products in the last decade has been level, but nevertheless we take care of about half Aluminium 90 500 0 56 500 very fast, as regards both the volume and num- of Europe’s electronic waste in this country. Nickel 25 000 0 14 610 ber of products. At the same time, decreasing Sweden’s metal producing industry, one of our quantities of raw materials are used per product. most important base industries representing high Tin 70 0 0 This development is expected to continue, in proportion of our export, largely takes its raw Gold 2,6 6 10 turn making the lifecycle of the products short- materials from Sweden’s bedrock. But it also uses Silver 35 340 27 er and shorter. Recovery therefore is becoming a high proportion of recovered metals. The table Chromium 100 000 0 64 000 increasingly important, while becoming a growing on the right shows the use of different metals in Magnesium No data 0 0 challenge. A mobile telephone today can contain Sweden, and our production and how much is REE 500 0 0 around 70 different elements, many of which are recycled, based on international statistics. 2 3 CIRCULAR ECONOMY Raw materials Design A circular economy means that one reduces society’s need of prime raw materials through everything from better product design and new business Production models to improved technology, control methods and awareness, along with recovery and recycling. There are several important principles behind the circular economy: • Waste is seen as a resource, now or in the future. • Products are given a smarter design to simplify recovery. • As far as possible, use recoverable and non-toxic materials to secure re- Recovery source effective and toxin free cycles. • Maximise the lifetime of products through repair, upgrade and forms for trading in products at the distributor. • Simplify recovery through source separation and collecting materials. Collection Distribution Figure 3. The circular economy. Illustration: SGU. Use 4 5 WHAT METALS ARE RECOVERABLE? Some metals, such as rare earth metals, indium the resmelting removes desired properties or and beryllium, are difficult or impossible to that volumes are insufficient to make recovery Several metals, such as copper, steel and alumini- recover using today’s technology. This can be for profitable. um, are easy to recover. Recovery is often carried several reasons, including ineffective separation, out by resmelting the metal and manufacturing > % H He new products. The process is simpler the more > % > % metal is present and if the metals do not need to Li Be B C N O F Ne be separated from each other. An aluminium can, Figure 4. Degrees of % for example, is simpler to recover than a circuit recovery of 60 different Na Mg < % Al Si P S Cl Ar metals in our society. For board of the same size, since the aluminium can more than half, less than K Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr be resmelted into new cans. The circuit board on 1 per cent is recovered. Several of these metals Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe the other hand contains many components and are used in new tech- nology and are so-called metals that must be separated. This can be done Cs Ba * Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg Tl Pb Bi Po At Rn "critical materials” which by crushing the circuit board into a powder and are needed among other using different methods such as magnetism, den- things in electric cars, Fr Ra ** Rf Db Sg Bh Hs Mt Ds Rg UUb UUt UUq UUp UUh UUs UUo mobile telephones, wind sity and chemicals to separate the metals and then turbines and solar cells.