Minerals Sustainability (2020 DOE Transition)
Book 2 - Issue Papers |
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Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020 |
The recently established Division of Minerals Sustainability brings a sharper DOE focus on minerals issues, which are essential to supporting a new energy transition and recapturing the critical minerals (CM) supply chain. Under this Division, FY 2021 is the launch year for regional innovation centers. The Division’s programs are also funding bench-scale and engineering design work related to discovery, extraction, and processing.
Upcoming Decisions
In order to increase the stature and effectiveness of the program, the Division was planned to be elevated to an Office level and led by a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minerals Sustainability.
Issue(s)
Meeting Exponential Demand
By 2050 the demand for CM and other minerals will grow by 450%.
Ensuring National and Economic Security
- Defense, high-tech, and manufacturing industries are at risk due to their dependency on imports and fewer supply chains for CM and ores.
- As U.S.-based supply chains have contracted in the face of, often subsidized, foreign competition, U.S. industry has lost expertise in advanced mineral processing and extractive metallurgy technologies that produce CM and ores in an efficient and environmentally appropriate manner.
- The loss of expertise in the United States has further strengthened foreign competition and resulted in environmental damage and justice issues in developing countries.
Enabling a 21st Century Energy Transition
- Expanded market penetration of electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy, power electronics, grid technologies, and conventional generation will create an exponential growth in U.S. demand for minerals.
- A 21st-century energy transition is estimated to require 3 billion tons of CM and metals requiring hundreds of billions of tons of raw materials extraction and processing activities.
- It will be necessary to deploy advanced energy technology for electricity generation (renewables, power electronics, grid technologies, and conventional generation) and to support the transportation sectors.
Recycling and Reuse Insufficient (World Bank Report 2020, Bloomberg)
- Example – Without new sources, EV batteries demand for CM will outpace supply, causing regional supply shortages and escalation in price.
- Example of Scale:
- -1 million EVs in the United States vs. 18 million in the United States by 2030 (Bloomberg).
- -5 million EVs globally in 2019 vs . 120 million expected in 2030 (McKinsey).
- -By 2022 lithium prices projected to soar 42% as the market bottoms out (Bloomberg).
Unchecked Foreign Sourcing Contributes to Human and Environmental Abuses
- The United States is dependent on CM and metals from other countries, many with human rights violations and inadequate environmental standards.
- Example – Cobalt sourced primarily from Congo through contracts with China.
The United States is the only industrial country in the developed world without an applied Research & Development (R&D) program for sustainable minerals and ore discovery, extraction, and processing. Creating an Office of Minerals Sustainability and continuing program expansion would rectify this deficiency and address the national need.
R&D Goals
Major advances in technology and computing over the last 20 years have been driving the industry to use advanced technologies for resource recovery, such as drones and robotic drilling; use of precise micro-drilling to improve recovery and reduce risks; self-driving machines and ore carriers; improved sensors to enable real-time data analytics during operations; and autonomous mining technologies that can support more efficient mining and recovery of resources previously considered unrecoverable. Selected, early R&D goals include:
Assess
Assess the regional difference in resource availability in on-shore and off-shore mineral resources and opportunities for the recovery and processing of raw materials.
Develop
Develop new technologies for assessment of recoverable resources (drones, real-time sensing and analytics, and micro-drilling technologies) on and off shore.Develop advanced mineral extraction technologies to maximize production of mineral feedstocks that advance U.S. competitiveness in energy generation and other industrial sectors.
Develop
Develop novel autonomous mining and extraction technologies to enable recovery of CM that are currently not recoverable.
Develop
Develop advanced technologies to extract CM feedstocks from abandoned mining residuals while maximizing environmental controls.
Advance
Advance mineral processing technologies to enable commercial production while minimizing land disturbance and maximize environmental stewardship.
DOE’s Statutory Authorization
As part of its effort to balance the Federal budget, on June 27, 1995, the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives advanced a bill abolishing the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM).
On April 26, 1996, Congress transferred to, and vested in, the Secretary of Energy three USBM authorities, including
“the functions pertaining to the conduct of inquiries, technological investigations[,] and research concerning the extraction, processing, use[,] and disposal of mineral substances . . . .”
Pub. L. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321-167 (Apr. 26, 1996). At that time, the small agency had fewer than 1,900 employees and a proposed budget of $132 million for fiscal year 1996. Consequently, the USBM went through its “orderly closure” in May 1996. Annual Appropriations Acts from 1996 through 2020 have included the following language in the Fossil Energy Research and Development section, exhibiting Congress’ long-held understanding of the Office of Fossil Energy’s prominent role at the DOE in conducting R&D concerning mineral extraction, processing, use, and disposal:
“including . . . for conducting inquiries, technological investigations and research concerning the extraction, processing, use, and disposal of mineral substances without objectionable social and environmental costs (30 U.S.C. 3, 1602, and 1603).”
With a renewed national interest in critical minerals and facing a 21st-century energy transition, DOE is accelerating its effort in these areas.