研究与评论:材料科学杂雷竞技苹果下载志
菜单ISSN: 2321 - 6212
ISSN: 2321 - 6212
加文·M·马德
澳大利亚皇家墨尔本理工大学
海报和接受的摘要:垫子科学
DOI:10.4172 / 2321 - 6212 - c7 - 033
学术界、工业界和政府部门都相当关注循环经济，尽管很少有人真正了解采矿在循环经济中的地位。从理论上讲，循环经济旨在最大限度地提高资源效率，最小化对环境的影响。实际上，采矿业是为了满足现代社会对原材料和能源不断增长的需求，以满足技术、基础设施和其他需求(如军事)，大多数金属基本上仍在使用或处置，只有适度的回收利用。消费的程度往往与经济活动密切相关(如人均消费)，不同金属的消费模式也不同。尽管出于各种原因，回收利用是一个崇高的目标，但它永远不可能完全有效，而且世界上许多地方仍有大量人口渴望达到现代生活水平，这意味着在未来几十年里，采矿业仍将在供应原材料和能源方面发挥作用。真正的问题在于我们开采什么，在哪里开采，如何开采，以及确保所有成本都被考虑在内(例如，避免事故或长期污染风险等外部性)。越来越多的人认为，许多金属对现代技术至关重要，比如铟和液晶显示屏，或者钕和永磁体，因此它们被贴上了“关键”的标签;供应的任何中断都可能对社会产生严重影响。这些关键金属包括铟、稀土元素、碲、镓、钴、铂族元素、锂等;虽然其中大多数是典型的副产品，而不是采矿的主要目标。 This leads to the situation whereby critical metals are mostly dependent on their primary metal cousins for their supply but very little is known about the flows of critical metals from mineral resources through ore processing, smelting and/or refining and their subsequent use in products. In many cases, significant financial value could be realised from a greater focus on critical metals. For example, PGEs are now reported from Glencoreâs Sudbury operations or the giant Olympic Dam project in Australia also contains rare earths which are equal to the combined Cu-U-Au-Ag value currently extracted. In the public policy sphere, poor information on many of the critical metals is often (and all too easily) confused with a lack of mineral resources (or reserves) and an inability to meet future consumption or demand patterns but nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, markets for critical metals have historically been small and niche only but with the growth in consumer electronics and renewable energy (especially solar photovoltaic panels and the rapid rise occurring in battery storage systems), critical metals will play a greater role in meeting future societal needs. Based on detailed resource case studies from primary metals, combined with specific case studies of indium, rare earths, lithium and cobalt, this presentation will justify the case for optimism that mining will continue to play a key role in providing the raw materials needed for a circular economy.
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