Tiny Mines: Filling the Gap for the World’s Critical Minerals
BHP reports that the world needs two times as much copper over the next 30 years as the past 30 years, four times as much nickel and two times as much steel. The demand for critical minerals is ballooning, but the mining industry is not keeping pace with demand.
Minerals and metals such as cobalt, copper, graphite and phosphate are needed to fuel an emerging energy transition to a green economy. Unfortunately, the materials are finite and the time and capital needed to build new mines is not enough to ward off any shortages of metals.
Current mines are going deeper, deposit grades are decreasing, access to capital is getting more difficult, production costs are increasing, and environmental and social concerns are growing, delaying further both developing and producing mines alike.
While there have been advances in exploration, improved efficiency in ore extraction and innovations in mineral processing, the future supply gap still persists.
Several proposals offered seabed mining and space mining as possible solutions for future demand. But that is still a long way to go and we need these minerals now.
So how can we meet present and future demand with little time and capital?
“Tiny Mines” but Many Mines
While investors, miners and engineers speak of big deposits and large-scale mining, it is becoming clear that this alone will not satisfy global demands.
Mining is capital-intensive business and takes a long time from conceptual studies to discovery; from permitting to actual production that can take as long as 10-15 years, others it can be longer.
Smaller deposits are less attractive for investors, exploration geologists and mine developers as they tend to be looking for “world-class” deposits that can achieve economies of scale.
However, Common Good Mining, a Canadian company, believes in the opportunity to develop smaller deposits with economic grades more sustainably, using modular mining.
This approach uses modular construction, innovative development methods, and incorporating circular economy designs. They call this concept “tiny mines”.
In addition to environmental benefits (smaller environmental footprints), this process could also deliver metals to market faster with lesser development period, and with lower capital expenditures.
Their approach also emphasizes the role of community governance to advance projects that wouldn’t ordinarily be developed due to small size or social complexity.
Small Footprint: Modular and Mobile Mines
When people think of small-scale mining, they think of artisanal mining which can be associated with child labor and environmentally damaging operations.
But what if mining and processing is engineered to be safe, environmentally-sensitive, socially acceptable and economically feasible? Like a modern small-scale mine?
The IMP@CT Project aimed to do this while delivering needed critical minerals for global use. Led by geology experts from the Camborne School of Mines, based at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall, IMP@CT stands for Integrated Modular Plant and Containerized Tools for Selective, Low-impact Mining of Small High-grade Deposits.
Dr. Kathryn Moore, project lead explained: “This research is exciting because it has the potential to unlock many small deposits globally, which would ultimately improve the security of supply of materials for manufacturers.”
The IMP@CT project was first pilot-tested in the West Balkans in 2019, at Mineco Ltd.’s Olovo lead mine in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where all processing occurred on site. The second deployment was at the Velicki Majdan processing site in Serbia, to process antimony ore from the nearby Zayaca mine.
The team describes this innovative method of mining as “switch on – switch off” (SOSO). This incorporates technological innovations in mining equipment design and mine planning. It greatly reduces the amount of time and work on feasibility studies and improves the quality of extracted material.
There is a huge opportunity in modular mining considering there are many small deposits worldwide.
Here are the top reasons why modular mining is worth the investment
Time to Market: Opportunity for reduced permitting times, as it is not a conventional mining production (small footprint)
Faster Payout: Relatively quick faster return on investment, due to shortened feasibility, construction and development
Lower Costs: Lesser capital requirement for small deposits and smaller duration mininig
Better Environmental Performance: less rock volume means lower energy and water consumption in processing
Less Disturbance: reduced environmental footprint as it is space efficient
Unlock additional supply of critical minerals: smaller deposits deemed uneconomic by large-scale business models can contribute into the supply-demand gap
Phased Development: tiny mining offers an agile approach to larger-scale development that can solve issues at a small scale to save money and time at a larger scale
Relieve stakeholder pain points: tiny mining create solutions that meet the needs of local communities that can be applied to unlock larger, socially complex opportunities
For more information, contact: alp@boraconsulting.ca