Around Australia new mining operations are being established and old sites, shuttered decades ago, are being brought back to life.
These miners aren’t digging for coal or gold, they’re hunting for other lucrative commodities – known as critical minerals.
If you own a mobile phone, if you power your home with renewable energy or drive an electric vehicle, then these minerals are already playing a key part in your life.
Four Corners investigates the new critical minerals mining boom and finds Australia is in the box seat to exploit a surge in worldwide demand.
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/abcnewsindepth Read more here:
ABC News In-depth takes you deeper on the big stories, with long-form journalism from Four Corners, Foreign Correspondent, Australian Story, Planet America and more, and explainers from ABC News Video Lab.
Watch more ABC News content ad-free on iview: https://ab.co/2OB7Mk1
For more from ABC News, click here: https://ab.co/2kxYCZY
Get breaking news and livestreams from our ABC News channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/NewsOnABC
Like ABC News on Facebook: http://facebook.com/abcnews.au
Follow ABC News on Instagram: http://instagram.com/abcnews_au
Follow ABC News on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abcnews
Note: In most cases, our captions are auto-generated.
#ABCNewsIndepth #ABCNewsAustralia
45 Comments
Lets address something stupid.. @7:20 "..wind turbine [requires about] 8.5 tonnes of critical earth minerals to build, that's three times more minerals than a coal-fired power plant needs to generate the same amount of energy". OK. The HUGE DIFFERENCE there is that the coal-fired plant needs that same amount of minerals to generate the next kilowatt (or however much energy you're comparing) – and the next – and the next, forever. The wind turbine however needs the minerals for its build, and then the energy generation itself requires no additional minerals, it's renewable energy – what an absolutely disingenuously presented factoid.
The featured quote of the video is also quite misleading, "to go green, will will in fact actually need MORE mines". This is very contentious – yes, we'll need additional rare-earth and 'critical minerals' mines, however, all of the coal mines (of which there are a great many), and fracking mines/operations, will be able to be closed. We will need oil & gas for a much longer timeframe as they're used in far too many products and don't have readily available alternatives – but the coal mines (that we are still for stupid political reasons, funding and building) can be closed near immediately as we move to renewables.
@ 37:13
GIBSON ECO VEHICLES Australia
Australian Made/Owned (Imported 'Linaeus" Design )
2023 Andromeda GVD ( Sedan ) Tanamia (Sports opt.) avail. Aug 2024
2023 Batterianus GSD ( Stn.Sudan )
Vehicle Specs.
Speed = can sustain speeds of up to 40 km/h – 65 km/h in short bursts.
Vehicle/ engine life = 40 to 50 years.
Recharge time = 3 minutes
Fuel = 200 L Water / Biomass pellet 20 kg (Millet Octane 23.) **
Exhaust = 5 kg spent Biomass ( re-packaged) 0.5 L /Spit
RRP. Approx 600 AUD + on-road costs TBA / 10yr Warranty
Colours – Mission Brown or Pindan Red
Availability in Australia = 1 Million ( unregistered )
Multi purpose Eco-adapted (Tireless) – ATV of the Future…and past.
**Vehicle will not run on Fossil fuel.. but could end up one.
First, CO2 dors not cause a catastrophe. Second, wind and solar wont reduce it. Third, Thorium Reactors could produce energy independence for everyone in a much shorter time. The green movement is a power grab by the elites, possibly even China.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,Replace.
Nobody's talking about Reduce.
Miningis more destructive than oil drilling. Battery disposal is still a toxic disaster
Well… we will need to consume less to save the planet. Over consumption is the problem… saying we need to hurt the planet to save the planet completely ignores the actual problem… It's bigger than just CO2… It's over consumption more broadly.
We need a paradigm shift from constant growth and consumerism to sustainability. For example, phones should last 20+ years not 3. Most things should last 20+ years not 3. A lot of people don't want the latest phone all the time, but end up getting one because the one they had broke. Having products marketed as status symbols, and as extensions of an individuals identity, is a great way to kill the planet with egoistical junk.
The intelligent thing to do is to power the world with nuclear. It is the most abundant, reliable and environmentally friendly power source available today. It is more environmentally friendly than solar and wind when you factor in the amount of equipment needed to harvest such diffuse power sources and the amount of mining and refining of materials needed to make so much equipment.
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view!"
Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam."
Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!"
Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?…"
Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!"
Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky."
Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction."
Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"
Bottom line is, we have been using 3 Earths' worth of resources every year for the last 30 years. Many of these resources (Earth minerals, chemicals, metals) are running out. One key resource running out in the next 10 years and everything would change, despite what other resources still existed. For everyone to have an electric car, for instance, means we just don't have the resources to go where we want to go. In fact, we are peeing into the wind and wondering why we're getting wet!
china is very smart about how they do things. for rare earth minerals for instance molycorp supplied 67 % of rare earth minerals china subsidized rare earth miners so they could under sell molycorp this cause the most advanced mine in the world was forced into bankruptcy while Hillary was incharge of state then the chinese tried to buy molycorp's eagle pass mine through a canadian company . electric cars are only as clean as the power plants used to charge them .and there are alternatives for most things .we do need long term things that can keep things sustainable.
first 40 seconds lets slam EV. pathetic
Raping Australia of it's rare earth minerals until there is nothing left is only going to profit shareholders not taxpayers. What about the environment and contamination.?
Technology is very fast. Already cobalt and graphite are already not used. Lithium metal batteries have the best formula.
Is the mining worth it? Is there a such thing as steady state quantity? Are we trapped in time? Or is it BS?
Apple Samsung Panasonic Catl love mining
"In order to save the earth we will need more mines". What a ridiculous statement. We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction and these people are talking about building MORE technological trinkets and goodies. Hopium will exacerbate an already grim scenario. It would be great if we could stop using fossil fuels, but if/when that happens the planet will heat up even faster because we will remove the global dimming effect, AKA the aerosol masking effect.
Politically driven lies driven by a public funded socialist maggots..
1) Most solar panels are made in China.
2) Most solar panels installed in Australia are from China.
3) Solar panels contain quartz.
4) Quartz in China to make panels is refined using COAL.
Why not go nuclear?
Lefty lefty Woke woke woke ABC
Typical green garbage typical of the ABC. There is no climate crisis because climate change is a hoax. All the ABC goons who don't bother to study and do proper research will lap this up. As for featuring Bob Brown, one of the most perverted and immoral men in Australia, how can the ABC possibly produce a program without him polluting it? Windmills are the highest priced method of making electricity yet you push that. The amount of greenhouse gas in making the concrete is enormous. It is all hypocrisy.
There is nothing wrong with coal – study it from credible scientists, not from the green stooges. Nuclear is better still. It shows how backward all the governments of Australia are for not developing that. What are you worried about? Not pleasing your communist mates because we might be doing something with uranium?
I sometimes think one of the best things for Australia is to cut Tasmania adrift and send it floating towards Antarctica. In that way they won't sprout global warming which does not exist.
without changing the power you charge with your ev is only as clean as the power it charges with and those windmills go through a set of blades about every 5 years and right now there is no way to bulk recycle them there is a lot of co2 generated mining the raw materials chana undersells businesses with government subsidies like molycorp the world leader in rare earth mining the most advanced mine on the planet then tried to buy it through a canadian business then they used the availability of rare earths in china .they then said i you want it you will have to build it here then once they could build it then they chased the companies out. china has used very opportunistic peditory mining practises anywhere anybody let them get away with. as we run out of things we figure out how to do it differently US collages are working on active charged replacement metal to replace platinum palladium and others.carbon has much more promise than lithium and when you stop using lithium you don't need cobalt and others so mining must be done carefully as one we kill an ecosystem we can't put it back there is at leastb 400 million tons of petroleum products sitting like like ticking time bombs clean that up and sell that poetrolium.
Everything comes out of the ground, so the earth is like an Apple, once the flesh is consumed, only the core remains. The earth will be eventually consumed. To think humans can survive on this planet forever, you are wrong.
The amount of new minerals may be staggering, but the waste and toxic waste is even worse so yes electrify everything and see the result.
Wind turbines require 600 tonnes of concrete as a footing, a100 truckloads of concrete for each 135 metre high wind turbine. Clean and Green ???
13:54 They should be careful who they divulge information to.
To supposedly save the planet we will need to create more mines and then process these minerals, will all of this be completely green, of course not, more pollution on the way to pretend to go green, what a joke.
0:08 – "this is what the future looks like"
That's whats being sold; It does in a individual consumption-based society, not the one we have to have.
Reality Check. So called renewables don't actually cool the planet. It's all 'hopium'. We just like to think that we can use green tech to enable business as usual to carry on, despite the fact humanity is on the precipice of unliveable world temps and ecological collapse.
Civilisation itself is a heat engine, no matter how it is powered.
If it's owned by China, the greatest global communist threat since the rise of Hitler, then definitely it must not be allowed !!!
Australia and India can mutually help each other. In medium to long term, only India has the consumption capacity to rival China, providing an alternative market for Aussie raw materials. If AUS Govt. ever criticize Indian policies, their voice will be amplified by opposition parties instead of Indian govt banning Aussies imports. Co dependence between India and Australia somehow feels less stressful than China for both parties.
17:28 – 17:34 business people are always trying to make money, not reach environmental targets (unless they are forced to during their operations)
18:23 – 18:37 exactly.
Mines leave the whole place when there's nothing n toxic waste.Same everywhere.
39:49 – 39:58 imagine paying for your own destruction
all those who are supposedly concern about envirnment but are pro mining, they all they just care about is the money. The true transition is not to "clean energies" but to decrease energy consumption, period.
Tyres have 8 gallons of oil in them each?
No alternative has been found for them
Humans are destroying earth
Your species arrogance is incredible she thinks she's so smart . no smart people don't kill their ecosystem or destroy their ecosystem too get more destruction because those components work no more than 10 years and at the population grow humans destructive species . im not human and we see true
So basically, Lets use conventional means, to create a greener tomorrow.
we need to recycle more and reclaim old garbage dumps and recycle the items from there they do this in some european countries already there are some docos on youtube about this.
One of the biggest challenge here isn't the resources or the manufacture of the end product – it's the consumption. People will want an EV for travel (of which they use ~10% of stored energy each day), home battery storage (of which they use 30-50% of stored energy each day)… giving a LiFePo4 battery about 10 years plus before replacement. How about having just one of those two, and either powering your house from your EV battery or powering your car for 30km each day from your home battery?
Sorry Greenies, you can't have your cake and eat it too.
What base power runs the electric car system? Coal, Oil Gas, Nuclear, Hydro, Geothermal?
Unfortunately Wind and Solar don't provide base energy, so you always need one of the above to make the electric cars in the first place.
So renewables by themselves are a pipe dream
If you want to live of the energy of the Sun, you just have to burn the coal, oil, and gas which the earth transformed from via living on the earth, for humans to use and feed the plants. Nature has a way of creating a system that ends up nourishing life on planets created and sustained by the past and present gifts of the Sun.
Civilized nation cannot survive without mining of all essential materials. Mining must be made with regard to environmental issues.
in any case, nature is in trouble no matter how they choose 😒😒