Responsible mining: Minnesota’s next big contribution

Two years ago, at the start of the Biden Administration, we wrote a commentary about the importance of mining to solving the climate crisis. “Motor vehicle electrification,” we said, “can’t happen without mining. The World Bank’s 2020 assessment of critical minerals essential to electric cars production, Minerals for Climate Action, predicts a 500% annual increase in lithium use over 2018 levels, a 450% increase for cobalt and a 100% increase for nickel to meet current climate targets. Copper production will need to increase by 1.5 million tons per year.  Even with 100% recycling of existing materials, demand for newly mined minerals and precious metals will soar.”

We also urged federal and state agencies, mining companies, unions, communities, and environmental advocates to recognize that the era of responsible mining was upon us.  Without a significant increase in mineral extraction fully integrated within a robustly developed circular economy, there’s no chance of meeting the essential target of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Two years later we are seeing some of the first promising steps to build the kind of responsible mining industry that others could replicate. In addition, the Biden Administration has started to address some of the critical issues we identified.

First and foremost, we called for a multi-stakeholder effort to develop the standards and practices for how responsible mining should be implemented. One of those efforts is now taking place in Tamarack, Minnesota, in the nickel mine being developed by Talon Metals. As the company prepares to file its initial Environmental Assessment Worksheet, it will be important that stakeholders recognize that Talon has the potential to become the national model around which responsible mining is defined, globally, for the 21st Century. All stakeholders should be prepared to step up and contribute to this historic opportunity.  Talon’s initial approach to mine development is encouraging.