There is widespread agreement among scientists that drastic cuts in fossil fuel consumption are needed to prevent catastrophic climate change – and switching to electric cars, wind and solar are key pillars of this change. But as countries strive to adopt more electrical technologies, investors and governments are struggling to control access to commodities such as copper, lithium and rare earth from remote areas. This has led many observers to fear that the green transition could have repercussions of the intensity and violence that characterizes the global pursuit of oil. “The explosive growth of electronics over the last decade, combined with rapid advances in green technologies such as wind energy and electric vehicles, have led to increased demand for REE. [rare earth elements]”, Said the study prepared for the DND in 2020 and access was based on freedom of information legislation. “REEs are also vital to national security, as they are key components in the production of a variety of defense-related components and applications,” the study said. “Any disruption to the availability of scarce land could have serious consequences for the economy and national security around the world.” Rare earth elements are a group of 17 commodities with names such as neodymium, cerium and yttrium. They are key elements for advanced technologies, including hybrid vehicles, laser guidance systems and flat screen monitors. Analysts say the general trend of competition for control also applies to other minerals needed for the energy transition, such as copper and lithium. The paper said China “has already shown readiness to use its rare earths as a political weapon”, citing Beijing’s move in 2010 to suspend REE missions to Japan following the detention of a Chinese fishing crew during a dispute. at the maritime border. China controls about 90 percent of the world’s rare earth supply, the study said, warning that clean-tech minerals could be a “21st-century” version of the “oil weapon” used by Arab countries during the embargo. of OPEC in 1973 “. Oil exports to the United States have stalled in retaliation for Washington’s support for Israel. Nearly 100 pages of internal DND files were hidden, underscoring the sensitivity of the information surrounding access to these resources. The Ministry of National Defense rejected an interview request. In an email, a spokesman said the study, conducted for the DND by the Canadian National Research Council, did not lead to immediate military action. However, he “informed the wider discussions of the departments that are in progress”. The DND is in talks with the United States on a “common defense industry base for countries,” the spokesman said.
“Intensity multiplier”
To fuel the green transition, environmentalists fear that demand for new mines, often in remote and ecologically sensitive areas, will lead to pollution as well as violence between communities and investors. These local conflicts could escalate as geopolitical disputes between countries and companies escalate as power brokers seek to control increasingly valuable resources everywhere, from the rainforests of South America to the Far North of Canada and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. . The global shift to clean energy will require much more copper, which is abundant in this mine in Herriman, Utah. An internal study by the Canadian Ministry of National Defense found that geopolitical competition for key minerals needed for a low-emission future is already under way. (Rick Bowmer / The Associated Press) “We are already seeing more local conflicts,” said Donald Kingsbury, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto who is studying mining in Latin America over the explosion of renewable energy sources. For example, he said tensions were rising in the so-called lithium triangle that stretches along the borders of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, citing protests and disputes between national and local governments over who should control resource revenues and decisions about new projects. “It’s an intensity multiplier,” Kingsbury said of the new energy demand associated with the energy transition. “We see that it sets the stage for future conflicts on the road.” Demand for copper is expected to double by 2050,’s CEO Glencore predicted last year, which means the world will need to mine 60 million tonnes a year. The production of an electric car requires more than twice as much copper as a gas-powered vehicle, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA). A clean energy vehicle also needs minerals that are not used in traditional cars, including cobalt, lithium and graphite. Demand for lithium is projected to increase more than 40-fold by 2040, according to the IEA, with demand for graphite, cobalt and nickel more than 20-fold. Achieving clean zero emissions “requires a truly monumental global change, a global copper-intensive system for renewable energy,” said Daniel Earle, CEO of Solaris Resources, a Canadian-based mining company. “You’re basically talking about trying to electrify what you can.”
A struggle for the unused resources of Ecuador
Earle hopes to tap into this new demand in a poor corner of the southeastern equator. Solaris wants to build an open-pit copper mine on a 286-square-kilometer concession, mining more than a billion tons of material near the Peruvian border. If the Warintza project obtains its environmental permits and meets other requirements, on-site copper mining could begin as early as 2026, Earle said. It is in places like this, a biodiversity area and a hotbed of illegal mining, accessible almost exclusively by helicopter, where the struggle for energy-related resources is heating up. Earle said the largest copper projects already in operation, including Chile’s giant Escondida mine, the world’s largest, do not have the capacity to meet the new demand. He expects smaller businesses in more remote areas, such as the Solaris project, to grow globally. Dependent on oil revenues for some time and reluctant to approve new mines, the Ecuadorian government is in the process of allowing more mining, said Nathan Monash, president of the country’s Chamber of Mines. “Ecuador has an almost perfect timeline for activating mineral resources when the transition occurs,” Monash said. The sector could be responsible for 500,000 direct and indirect jobs in Ecuador by the end of the decade, if the planned projects go online, Monash said. He acknowledged that the increase in mining activity could repeat some of the “geopolitical issues” that have plagued the oil sector. However, he insisted that companies in Ecuador have a “commitment to local communities” after “learning a lot from mining policies in the past”. “All neighbors can have disagreements, but it basically depends on trust,” Monash said. “Is there a built-in trust between local stakeholders and mining companies?” A Waorani guard stands in front of police outside the Constitutional Court of Ecuador in 2020 during a demonstration against extraction and oil extraction in traditional indigenous areas. Canada-based mining company Solaris Resources says Indigenous Shuar communities living near the proposed copper mine have approved the project. An indigenous ethnic organization in Ecuador opposes this. (Dolores Ochoa / The Associated Press) Federico Velásquez, Solaris’ vice president of operations, said the indigenous Shuar communities living around the proposed mine supported the project, promising jobs and infrastructure in one of Ecuador’s poorest areas. Other indigenous groups in Ecuador, including the Shuar Arutam People’s Council, which represents dozens of communities in the area, have called on the government to suspend the project. “These activities [by Solaris] “They are violating our legal decision to say ‘No to mining’ in our territory, a decision that protects our right to self-determination and other collective rights,” Josefina Tunki, the group’s president, said in a statement last year. Local environmentalists are also concerned about the new mines, fearing water pollution, deforestation and long-term damage to remote ecosystems, said Nathalia Bonilla, chair of the Quito-based Accion Ecologica conservation team.
Fears embargo
The mining industry argues that these projects are necessary to combat climate change, create jobs and move Ecuador beyond its dependence on oil extraction. If a company like Solaris does not build the copper project, they say, someone else can. “China is the dominant player in natural resources in Ecuador,” said Solaris CEO Earle. Chinese companies get “100 percent” of the copper concentrate from the Mirador mine near the Warintza project, he said, and almost all of Ecuador’s oil production. “Chinese mining companies have made the leap over Western mining companies.” The Chinese embassy in Ecuador did not respond to requests for comment. In addition to its growing presence in South America, China continues to control the rare earth market “and is a leader in rare earth research and development,” the DND study said, leading some analysts to believe that Beijing could possibly to block the sale of goods in times of conflict. There was a similar situation in the oil market of the 1970s. During the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, the countries of the Middle East by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries …
