RRM 2024 - Critical Choices - Day 3 in review

In its third day, Responsible Raw Materials 2024 continued to explore models and proposals to mitigate threats, realise opportunities and connect across siloes and boundaries – with a strong reminder that “what we want and need can’t all happen at the same time”.

Dave Lawie and James Cleverley reminded us that the primary driver of poor resource company performance is asset impairment, from exploration through to operations. Technical issues are a key causation and, because they arise from poor risk management, avoidable. This makes a strong case for recognising the high value of having the right information at the right time, and using technology to enhance the efficiency (speed and interconnection) of the typical cycle to decision and across all stages of exploration and mining. Caroline Tiddy echoed this in her discussion of new drilling technologies for mineral exploration, spotlighting the value of cooperative research as well as the necessity to raise questions of sustainability and responsibility in the development of new technologies and their adoption. Similarly, Murray W Hitzman underlined key areas for collaborative research as well as the need to replenish the minerals industry workforce worldwide: in both cases, multidisciplinary approaches and working across functional and sector siloes. This is the mindset in which iCRAG, the SFI Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences, is currently shaping new research partnerships with corporates and industries, with the aim of reducing future business risks for mining and minerals.

Taking a view on operational alternatives, Owen Missen discussed whether harnessing natural processes could be a potentially viable method to extract critical elements from mine wastes, learning from natural processes that drive critical element cycling in surface environments. This ‘reverse engineering’ method thus has potential to provide a new production method for critical metals from existing mined materials, costing less energy and having less environmental impact than finding and extracting a new resource.

Considering exploration and mining through the lens of public risk perception, Kate Taylor Smith unpacked some of the anxiety and fear that can be triggered by exploration activities as the precursor of possible future mining. Recognition, empathy and understanding of community concerns are critical to tackle concerns and reduce negative social impacts, which otherwise may stall or entirely halt the progress of a project. In Canada, one of the emerging changes to the way mining happens is the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIPA), which will have significant impacts on the economic and governance fundamentals for mining. As Kyle Pearce (he/him/his) demonstrated, this will require changes in mindset even more than in frameworks, working from the understanding that change requires that we ‘unlearn’ a dominant model and the biases that contribute to gaps.

The NIMBY (not in my backyard) interpretation simplifies community points of view and fails to understand perceived risk, stifling relationship-building; concerns make sense if you consider what is important to communities, what they think the hazards are and where they feel vulnerable

The Burst the Bubble session envisaged a number of the issues discussed throughout the conference, particularity circularity and responsible sourcing, from the perspective of stakeholders who are not themselves involved in mining or mineral operations. Mayan Al-Shakarchy , Sophia Stanley, Mark Ormiston and Caroline Moore discussed their views of mining and mineral value chains as users of minerals in their business or in their personal consumption, challenging economic models, the disconnection of minerals from end products and the legacy of mining.

Many of these considerations, and the complexity of balancing criticality and responsibility in both demand and supply management, are central to the emerging mineral policies in both consumer and producers countries and regions.

In the UK, Kirsty Benham discussed how policy can play a role in de-risking a circular economy of critical minerals by focusing on key investment requirements: reliable sources of waste feedstock, attractive mineral pricing, effective planning and permitting but also support to research and innovation and availability of skills. In Argentina, Carolina Sánchez noted that lowering investment risk in mineral resources requires a combination of effective investments and lower capital costs; wide lateral vision (it’s not just about mining!); sound regulatory and institutions frameworks and actionable agreements (country to country; within the country; and between the public and private sectors). All of these pillars of trust and growth imply greater efforts for the countries of origin and destination of the investments, financial institutions and the public and private sector.

Critical mineral resources are not sufficient to fully leverage the opportunities derived from the energy and digital transitions: attracting and fostering investment in these resources is essential for countries aiming to reshape their future in this new mineral rush. In Argentina, this hinges on copper, lithium and a variety of other resources.

Global actors are positioning across geographies and issues to reshape mineral value chains for more resilience and responsibility. Susannah Fitzgerald examined the recent flurry of state-state mineral partnerships, i.e. arrangements between countries that produce key transition minerals and those that wish to buy them, generally driven by the political or geostrategic needs of the latter and in the form of non-binding instruments. Although these are usually pitched as “win-win” approaches, the distinct lack of transparency around these arrangements makes it hard to determine their overall value for either party and stakeholders. The Natural Resource Governance Institute now makes them available on its open-access repository, ResourceContracts.

Simultaneously, resource-rich countries are hoping to capitalise on these partnerships and increased demand by adding value to their raw materials through refining, smelting, and manufacturing components of batteries and other green technologies. However, in many mineral-rich developing countries there are far more economic development opportunities in the short to medium term in backward linkages – mining companies purchasing goods and services – as demonstrated by Jeff Geipel .

Sarah Binger discussed the JET Minerals Challenge launched in 2022 by USAID with partners Amazon, BHP Foundation and Chandler Foundation, to catalyse the development, application and scaling of innovations to counter corruption and strengthen transparency, accountability and integrity in the global rush to meet the unprecedented demand for green minerals. Covering 15 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the 11 projects selected target more than 10 green mineral supply chains, including cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese, nickel, silver, and rare earth elements.

Zooming out to consider the global stakes in redesigning mineral value chains, Jeff Townsend discussed how we can build strategic value: social, commercial and strategic value of a project define its relative importance to one of several stakeholders according to their priorities. Recognising that value is relative, and understanding which stakeholder has the influence or capacity to best value it, is key to positioning a project even in the context of the current critical minerals rush. From the perspective of government, this entails acknowledging that the gap between commercial and strategic value will not be filled by private sector investment, but also that the financing gap concerning exploration must be addressed as a priority. Echoing this from the perspective of a leading multilateral development finance institution, Rodrigo J. Navas Oreamuno discussed the work of the Inter-American Development Bank group, which includes its support to public sector and governance as well as financing mineral projects and relating businesses and infrastructure. Latin America is one of the regions attracting the most attention for their critical mineral potential and role in the global transitions.

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Reporting by Ludivine Wouters