Comment archive

Wednesday, 6 Dec 2023
The Geopolitics of Deep-Sea Mining

Deep-sea mining carries substantial environmental risks and its immediate profitability remains questionable due to several technical difficulties. Yet, amid regulatory pitfalls, a handful of states are rushing to extract raw resources from the seabed. China seems set to dominate deep-sea mining. Minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese are ...

Wednesday, 27 Sep 2023
Norway, a New Mining Nation?

The energy transition and ‘green’ technologies spark enormous demands for minerals. Norway set out to become a supplier of raw materials which, in the current geopolitical tensions, are much needed not only by the country itself but also the European Union. In late June 2023, the Norwegian government’s Ministry of ...

Tuesday, 26 Jan 2021
Green & Sustainable Mining: Green-Washing in the Extractive Industries?

What is behind the recent push for mining companies to go green and improve the sustainability of their operations? Since around 2017, several policy reports and a growing number of news articles have highlighted how mining companies are increasingly trying to ensure that their operations are more environmentally sustainable and ...

Wednesday, 20 Jan 2021
Good Reads: Rare Earths and Conflict across Scale

Rare earths metals made a lot of news over the last decade, after most of us spent years forgetting what we once learned their names on the periodic table. Rare earths consist of 17 different metals, from scandium (element 21) down to lutetium (element 71). They are important to a ...

Tuesday, 12 Jan 2021
Lithium in Zimbabwe: A future boom of doom?

Electric vehicles (EV) sales are on the rise. One of key ingredients for EV batteries is lithium, which is not that easily replaced as a key element in batteries. Thus, the demand in the lightweight mineral will continue to grow – the investment bank UBS estimates it demand will grow ...