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Mines and energy

Supply of Critical and Strategic Minerals: Discussions Around a Perspective of Transatlantic Partnership

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Room 401 - Hydro-Québec

Session organizer

Jocelyn Douhéret

MRNF

LinkedIn

Both in North America and in Europe, the effects of complex challenges in terms of supply and development of the mining sector are being felt. Indeed, in the context of a global race for the supply of critical and strategic minerals (CSMs) as well as for energy security, mining companies are experiencing difficulties in developing their mining projects to the extent that they are faced with challenges, such as a lack of social acceptability, on one hand, and, on the other, the volatility of the prices of minerals and metals in an international market controlled by a limited number of players. As a result, it becomes difficult to meet the growing demand for CSMs and contribute to the acceleration of the energy transition on a global scale. Hence the importance of North America and Europe collaborating more, sharing their best practices, and joining forces in order to better overcome the challenges facing them in this area.

Bringing together Quebec, American and European representatives, this round table will explore possible solutions to consider in order to enable the establishment of a transatlantic supply chain that is transparent, secure and sustainable. What strategies should be adopted and how can government authorities support and help the industry overcome the challenges it faces? We will discuss the role that Quebec, recognized as a reliable and ethical partner, can give itself in order to help its partners on both sides of the Atlantic overcome the challenges in terms of supplying CSMs necessary for the transition to a green economy.

This session will be offered in French and in English.

1:30 p.m.

Welcome Address

1:35 p.m.

To mine or not to mine (energy-transition metals) in Europe, that is the question

Peter Tom Jones

KU Leuven Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals

LinkedIn
Conference details

Make no mistake. The tsunami of cheap, heavily subsidised Chinese Electric Vehicles (EVs) is coming and Europe seems to have been sleepwalking into an abyss.What we really need to accelerate now, is an industrial strategy that prevents decarbonisation going hand with de-industrialisation. We need to go for a cleantech-based re-industrialisation. This involves investing in made-in-Europe, mine-to-product value chains. This endeavour needs to go beyond the opening of, for instance, new Gigafactories for battery cells for EVs; we should also look into the upstream parts, including the mining, refining and recycling of (critical) energy-transition metals in Europe, as also acknowledged in the Critical Raw Materials Act.

Given the amount of metals that are needed to transition from a fossil-fuel based economy to a climate-neutral economy, recycling cannot do the job on its own. One cannot recycle what is not yet available for recycling. This is particularly true for the lithium, nickel and cobalt contained in lithium-ion batteries or for rare-earth metals in permanent magnet motors. Only from about 2035-2040 onwards there will be ample quantities to recycle. But in the meantime, for “new” metals such as lithium, cobalt and rare-earths metals, one first needs to provide the influx of primary metals in the economic circuit. Post-2040 the contribution from recycling can quickly increase. Clearly, once these metals are in the loop, one needs to keep them in Europe and recycle them here, reducing the need for primary input.

However, given the fact that it will still take more than 20 to 25 years before a fully “circular” stage can be reached, primary mining remains key. The question is then: where will the metals come from? How moral is it to buy fancy EVs, laptops and smart phones if one doesn’t want the mining of the required critical metals to happen in one’s own (metaphorical) back yard? How moral is it if one prefers the mining to occur in poor countries in the global South, where the local environmental and social conditions and consequences are atrocious? Aren’t we just exporting our social and environmental responsibility to the other side of the world then? Instead of succumbing to NIMBY (Not-in-my-backyard), we should go for BIMBY: Better-in-my-backyard, meaning that we take up our responsibility, and mine and refine the metals in our own (European) borders and we do this in a responsible way.

2:00 p.m.

To come

Laura Konkel

Norton Rose Fulbright

Benjamin Gallezot

Délégation interministérielle aux approvisionnements en minerais et métaux stratégiques

Peter Tom Jones

KU Leuven Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals

LinkedIn

Jennifer Mergy

Ambassade des États-Unis au Canada

4:00 p.m.

End of the session