Stewardship of Earth Resources
STEWARDSHIP: the individual’s responsibility
to manage his life and property with proper
regard to the rights of others
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1987)
Responsible stewardship of mineral resources demands that we
make sensible and fair choices of where, how, and when to acquire
critical resources we need for today and for the future.
Making these choices also requires that we face some other
inconvenient truths about the earth and our interaction with it.
A Looming
Stewardship
Question for
Minnesotans:
Should we
develop this
immense CuNi-PGE
mineral
resource?
Inconvenient Truth #1
We Use the Earth
Mineral Resources are Necessary
in our Everyday Lives
Home Computer:
26 different elements
66 different minerals
National Mining Institute, 2005
From the Minerals Information Institute
www.mii.org
Inconvenient Truth #2
If it can’t be grown, it has to be mined
• Biological Resources
– plants, trees, animals
– renewable on the scale of human lifecycles
• Mineral Resources
– took the Earth millions of years to create by
uncommon processes
– Non-renewable
– Some are reusable or recyclable, but not all (e.g., oil,
coal...)
Inconvenient Truth #3
Everything comes from something, but
something isn’t everywhere
Buried too Deep
Just Buried
Inconvenient Truth #4
Most of the world’s metal comes from sulfide minerals
Chalcopyrite
CuFeS2
Bornite
Cu5FeS4
Chalcocite
Cu2S
Pentlandite
(Fe,Ni)9S8
Cinnabar
HgS
Sphalerite
ZnS
Molybdenite
MoS2
Galena
PbS
Cobaltite
CoAsS
New Processing Technology for
Sulfide Ores
OLD –
Smelting
NEW –
Hydrometallurgy
Acid Mine Drainage
2FeS2(s) + 7O2(g) +
2H2O(l) →
2Fe2+(aq) + 4SO42-(aq)
+ 4H+(aq)
Inconvenient Truth #5
The western world consumes the most, but mines the least amount of mineral resources
31%
Data from 2006 USGS Mineral Commodity Summary
Copper Country of
Upper Michigan:
America’s First
Mineral Rush
1844-1972
United States –
The #1 consumer of
mineral resources,
but produces little for
itself
% Mined by US
Metal vs. Total Mining
Copper
% Imported for
US consumption
7.7%
40%
(Chile (30%), US, Indonesia, Peru)
Nickel
0%
54%
(Russia, Australia, Canada, Indonesia)
Cobalt
0%
78%
(Congo (30%), Zambia, Australia, Canada)
Palladium
6.6%
78%
(Russia (44%), South Africa (38%))
Statistics from US Geological Survey
Mineral Commodity Summaries, Jan. 2006
Inconvenient Truth #6
If we don’t mine it here, it will be mined
somewhere else....BADLY
Ni
Au
Cu
Historically High Metal Prices
Pd
Pb
Pt
Zn
02------- 03------- 04------ 05------- 06-------
1992
1998
2006
Palladium:
“The Environmental Metal”
Pd
Uses
Noril’sk/Talnakh Cu-Ni-PGE Deposit
Western Siberia
Supplies 50-60% of the World’s Pd Resource
Monchegorsk, Russia
In 1994, responsible for 50% of the SO2 in the
Northern Hemisphere
The Stillwater Mine (Montana)
Only Precious Metals Mine in the U.S.
The Mining Industry – A Legacy of Pollution;
but finally becoming Environmentally Responsible
Most Canadian
mineral companies
subscribe to CSR
(Corporate Social
Responsibility) and E3
(Environmental
Excellence in
Exploration) standards
Kemi, Finland
Sudbury, ON
Hydrometallurgical Processing
Bisbee, AZ
Some Stewardship Questions to Ask
• Do we want to live in a modern society (and should we
allow China to do the same)?
• If so, is it fair to rely upon the rest of the world to supply
most of our mineral resources?
• If we are global citizens, shouldn’t we care as much about
mining practices and labor conditions everywhere the world
as we do in our own backyard?
• Do we take advantage of the current mining infrastructure
and labor force to sustain and diversify the 125-year-old
mining economy of northern Minnesota, or do we let it fade
away and let the area transition into a tourist economy?