Are lead-powered cars really the new thing?
September 23, 2023, originally via Linkedin
Tesla’s have been the next big thing in the Northern rivers for the past few years, but I’m increasingly wondering how many of us have done our homework. Ever heard of a lead-powered car?
How green is your Tesla?
A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons (4,600 kg) of CO2 per year, assuming a fuel economy of about 9.4 kilometres per litre and 18,500 kilometres per year.
A typical electric car requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car. It also requires production of new EV charging stations, and, if we’re avoiding emissions, production of new, alternate sources of energy supply.
Minerals used in electric cars vs conventional cars
The five minerals most crucial to EV batteries are concentrated in just a handful of countries, according to the Washington Post. Guess which country scores high on that list?
· Bauxite - Bauxite, a reddish rock that is processed to produce aluminium, is mostly mined in Australia, China and Guinea
· Nickel (mined in Australia) – 60% of the world’s nickel reserves are concentrated in three countries: Indonesia, Australia and Brazil
· Manganese – South Africa produces more than one-third of the world’s manganese supply, and analysts predict that global demand from the battery sector will increase ninefold over the next decade. Workers in these mines say they have experienced memory loss, slurred speech and other physical impairments tied to ingesting the mineral’s fine dust. Australia is in the top 3 producers
· Lithium – Demand for lithium is expected to increase 40-fold by 2040, with 80% of increased demand driven by EVs, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Australia, Chile and China lead in lithium mining
· Cobalt – the only one of the top five minerals in which Australia is a minor producer. Seventy percent of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The U.S. Labor Department estimates that between 5,000 and 35,000 children, some as young as 6, work in these unregulated operations
Electric cars also depend heavily on silver. Each EV contains between 25 and 50 grams of silver, depending on the model.
Increasing solar energy demands also require new production of solar panels. The two key materials for which solar represents a substantial proportion of demand are silicon and silver.
Solar panel inputs by weight
· Silicon - According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), about 12% of all silicon metal produced worldwide (“metallurgical-grade silicon” or MGS) is turned into polysilicon for solar panel production. Converting silicon to polysilicon requires very high temperatures, and in China, which produces about 70% of the world’s MGS and 77% of the world’s polysilicon, it’s coal that largely fuels these plants
· Silver - Ten percent of the world’s silver is used for solar panels today. If one assumed a 100% renewable energy scenario by 2050, with current solar technology and recycling rates, solar power’s demand for silver could be more than 50% of world reserves. UNSW suggests that by 2050, solar panel production will use 85–98% of current global silver reserves
Silver mining, based mainly in Mexico, China, Peru, Chile, Australia, Russia, and Poland, has the potential to cause heavy metal contamination and community displacement. In Guatemala, the Indigenous Xinka community collected more than 85,000 signatures calling on Pan American Silver to avoid restarting its dormant operations due to water contamination, failure to justly consult the community, and potential involvement in threats directed at nonviolent protesters. In La Libertad, Peru, a 17-year-old mine stopped operating in 2012 after five emergency declarations of high levels of metal contamination in the Moche River.
The circular economy for solar panels is still in a nascent stage, despite a $3 billion installation industry in 2022, and accounting for over 6% of power generation in Australia. The outlook is also grim: only 17% of the 53.6 million tons of e-waste produced around the world – including phones, whose product cycles we are decades into – is properly recycled, according to the Global E-waste Monitor, 2020.
Assuming for simplicity that each EV is represented by one electric car and one solar panel, the amount of silver consumer by each EV is on average, 60 grams (25-50 grams + 20 grams).
Unlike emission-producing coal and oil, the largest silver mines globally have to date, predominantly not been in our backyard, with the top six in Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Poland and North-West Queensland, near Mount Isa. Argentina was reportedly named after its silver resources by Spanish conquistadors.
Of notable exception is Broken Hill, in west NSW. Discovered in 1883, and mined by the Broken Hill Proprietary Co., which became BHP-Billiton, one of the largest mining companies in the world, Broken Hill was mined continuously for 120 years.
On April 3rd, 2023, the NSW IPC approved the Bowdens “Silver” Mine, in Lue, NSW, 26 kilometres from Mudgee, a food and wine region. “Australia's largest undeveloped silver deposit and one of the largest globally”, Silver Mines CEO, Anthony McClure, states that this mine will run for over 50 years.
During the approvals process the project received almost 2,000 public submissions, with more than half objecting to the mine.
Clare Sykes, a mining engineer and one of three panel members assessing the application, was also involved in the approval in the same week of the McPhillamys gold mine in the Central West, with similar community opposition.
Investor material of Bowden’s operator, Silver Mines Limited, shows the silver resource reported in g/t but zinc and lead in %.
Bowdens Silver Mineral Resource (March 2023)
I found this confusing so I re-did their table:
Price based on 12 August 2023; figures: Silver Mines
Whilst this may be a ‘silver mine’ to financial markets, it is definitely a lead/ zinc mine by volume.
In 2021, the Coalition government released the NSW Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Strategy. Citing their crucial role in reducing emissions, the strategy promises to
· Promote resource exploration
· Incentivise greenfield exploration
· Deliver targeted media campaigns to improve social licence
· Create a dedicated Mining Concierge Service to assist mining projects to navigate the pathway through the planning and approval process, and manage issues that impede mining project development
· Reduce red and green tape by providing direct project facilitation support for critical minerals projects to navigate planning and regulatory approvals
· Assist projects to access state and federal financial assistance
· Establish a Critical Minerals Hub in the Central West of NSW
Despite silver, zinc or lead not being included in the government’s list of critical minerals, its still appears to be treated as such and receiving the concierge services.
This week, in response to recently aired community concerns, 7.30 contacted NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully and Natural Resources Minister Courtney Houssos and asked whether it was fair that mining companies were being offered such support and whether it compromised the independence of the planning system. The ministers declined to be interviewed but in a statement told 7.30: "The government will always do what's in the best interest of the community on major projects."
Houssos earlier commented, “Our ability to leverage the state’s natural abundance of materials to create employment opportunities and economic growth will be the best measure of our success.”
“The strategy will also be aimed at further encouraging greenfield critical minerals exploration across the state… The demand for critical minerals grows stronger as Australia and the world work to decarbonise and develop new renewable and clean energy technologies to deliver on these commitments.”
Under current approvals, the 60 grams of silver used in our electric vehicle will be extracted along with approximately 3 kilograms of lead, in an open-cut mine, 2 kilometres from a school and within 20 kilometres of a number of food and wine producers.
In 2014, 53 per cent of children in Broken Hill still had lead levels exceeding 5 µg/dL, the draft National Health and Medical Research Council blood lead reference.
How does one compare 4,600 kg of CO2 per year with the mining required to extract 60 grams of silver, 3,000 grams of lead, potential contamination of waterways, potential lead poisoning, potential manganese poisoning PLUS the balance of emissions required to charge the EV (renewables currently account for just over one third of electricity production in Australia) or produce the silicon and other inputs in solar panels, and other new technologies?
It was easy to ignore the environmental and social impacts of minerals mining when it wasn’t in our backyard, but our backyard looks like its about to get more crowded.