Metal scarcity and sustainability,analyzing the necessity to reduce the extraction of scarce metals |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Lappeenranta University of Technology, LUT Chemtech, Skinnarilankatu 34, FI-53850 Lappeenranta, Finland;2. Outotec Oyj, Rauhalanpuisto 9, P.O. Box 1000, FI-0223I Espoo, Finland;1. Department of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Quanzhou Normal University, 398 Donghai Street, Fengze, Quanzhou 362000, China;2. Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1799 Jimei Road, Xiamen 361021, China;3. Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, 71 Chou-Shan Road, Taipei 10660, Taiwan;1. UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, University College London, 14 Upper Woburn Place, WC1H 0NN London, United Kingdom;2. Center for Industrial Ecology, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, 06511 New Haven, CT, United States;3. Leiden University, Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Einsteinweg 2 (Bio-Science Park), 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands |
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| Abstract: | There is debate whether or not further growth of metal extraction from the earth's crust will be sustainable in connection with geologic scarcity. Will future generations possibly face a depletion of specific metals? We study whether, for which metals and to what extent the extraction rate would need to be reduced in order to be sustainable. To do so, we propose an operational definition for the sustainable extraction rate of metals. We have divided 42 metals in 4 groups according to their geologic scarcity. Applying the proposed sustainability definition to the 17 scarcest metals, shows that for almost all considered metals the global consumption of primary resources needs to be reduced to stay within sustainable limits as defined in our analysis. The 8 geologically scarcest metals are antimony, bismuth, boron, copper, gold, molybdenum, rhenium and zinc. |
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| Keywords: | Sustainable extraction Geologic scarcity Minerals depletion |
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