The security of green metal

The wind, sun and tides are free. And they will always be freely available, unlike the world’s dwindling coal and oil supplies. Hence one argument in support of fossil fuel alternatives is that they bolster our increasingly fragile energy security.

But just how sound is this argument? Natural sources of energy may be freely abundant, yet the technologies used to harness that energy still rely on rare components. But most industrialised nations, including the US, are almost entirely dependent on foreign sources for those metals.

If the West wants to improve its energy security, then it needs better access to scarce metals. The only way to achieve that is for Western governments to invest in domestic exploration and mining – neither of which is generally associated with “going green”.

“There’s a misunderstanding in the public about moving to alternative energy and moving from mining, which can’t be done,” says James Burnell of the Colorado Geological Survey.

There is a long list of scarce metals needed for alternative energy and transportation. Metals like gallium, indium, selenium, tellurium, and high purity silicon are needed to make photovoltaic panels. To make batteries there’s zinc, vanadium, lithium and rare earth elements as well as platinum group minerals for fuel cell-powered vehicles.

Worryingly, one of the biggest players in the scarce metals game is China, and they are starting to play hardball, says Burnell. China is preparing to build 330 gigawatts worth of wind generators. That will require about 59,000 tons of neodymium to make high-strength magnets – more than that country’s annual output of neodymium. If China goes ahead with its plans, it will have little or no neodymium to export. New sources of these critical metals are needed, says Yasushi Watanabe of the Institute for Geo-Resources and Environment in Tsukuba, Japan. He called for new methods for extracting rare elements from different rock, too.

“Extraction methods of metals from new minerals and materials are not well established,” says Watanabe. “We need to develop new refining and smelting methods for new type ores.” In the meantime, says Burnell, policy-makers and the public seem only superficially aware of the threat to vital supplies. Trade wars are on the horizon, he predicts.