A new industrial revolution is
brewing in Europe. One in which mining is expected to have a central role to
redevelop the continent’s main industries, while embracing an entirely
new approach to resources extraction centred in people and green
technologies.
The automotive sector alone will
need greater supplies of lithium, nickel, copper and rare earths as carmakers
move away from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles (EVs).
That’s why the continent, which has a long story of mining, is working on making sure the new wave of resource exploitation applies lessons learned from countries such as Canada and Australia.
Miners in those nations have
already faced challenges locally and abroad, when dealing with local
communities and governments’ expectations, though a magic formula is far from
being reach.
“We need to differentiate utopia from vision,” says Wolfang Reimer, Managing Director Geokompetenzzentrum Freiberg, a German NGO involved in a continental-wide group working on outlining a framework for acquiring a social licence to operate (SOL) in Europe.
“Continental Europe is a probably pristine mining frontier with multiple world class deposits, but which can’t be developed using conventional extractive methods.”
Simon Michaux, Senior Scientist at the Geological Survey of Finland.
“Our continent does not have a vast presence of aboriginal peoples or empty, mineral-rich land in which to explore and build new mines,” he told participants in a workshop on SLO organized by the MIREAU (Mining and Metallurgical Regions of the EU) project. “Yet, local attitude towards mining contradicts the increasing need for new sources of metals and minerals.”
While the continent’s mining
potential has yet to be determined, there are a significant number of closed
mines that could be financially viable with new technology. “Most of Europe has
not been surveyed below a depth of 100m,” says Simon Michaux, Senior Scientist
at the Geological Survey of Finland. “Continental Europe is probably a pristine mining frontier
with multiple world class deposits that can’t be developed using conventional
mining methods,” he says.
In his opinion, this
part of the world faces challenges such as accessing deposits located in
historic sites, or under recently developed highways, which guarantees
community opposition.
“If Europe wants to maintain its
sovereignty in the current market conditions and socioeconomic circumstances, when
global trade is no longer fair, then the EU will have to source its own raw
materials by developing its own mining operations,” Michaux warns.
States are already approving exploration plans and allowing companies to reopen idled mines. As those projects are carried out at regional and local levels, regions are key actors in ensuring a continued supply of mineral raw materials to the European economy, says Pamela Lesser, researcher at the University of Lapland, Finland.
Europe faces unique challenges to obtaining society’s approval, such as potentially having to access deposits located in historic sites, or under recently developed highways.
Lesser is one of the academics working on the MIREU project, which aims at bringing together mining and metallurgy regions from across Europe to work together on improving the conditions for sustainable access and supply of raw materials in the area.
There are a few recent examples of
growing mining activity in the old continent.
In February, Norway gave the green
light to a copper mine near Europe’s northernmost point despite years of
opposition from indigenous Sami herders and fishermen.
But Nussir ASA, the company which will operate the mine, has committed to halt mining during the reindeer spring migration.
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Drilling at Mina do Barroso lithium project in northern Portugal. (Image courtesy of Savannah Resources.)
Savannah Resources is currently advancing its Mina do Barroso project in Portugal, expected to become the continent’s first significant producer of spodumene, a hard-rock form of lithium.
Cornish Lithium aims at extracting lithium from hot water brines below the surface in the ancient mining region of Cornwall, in south-west England.
Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX), the British company building a huge fertilizer mine beneath a national park, secured in April a ten-year supply and distribution deal in Europe.
The Woodsmith mine, poised to be
one of the world’s largest in terms of the amount of resources extracted,
is set to generate an initial 10 million tonnes per year of polyhalite. That
figure will double once it reaches full capacity by 2024.
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