Although we are definitely not a mining blog, preferring instead to explore the longer-term implications of using semi-variance as your risk measurement, the fact is that the UNocrats and other powers-that-be want to halt mining before we have a replacement for the internal combustion engine:
Flashback November 2021—"COP26: U.N. Secretary-General Calls For An End To Mining—“we face a stark choice – either we stop it or it stops us”"
That's exactly what they did with electricity production, shutting down fossil fuels and halting nuclear, before there was a replacement in place for the production lost or forsworn. Leading to blackouts in California and the de-industrialization of Germany. And that is crazy. So we look for ways to circumvent the stated aim of the self-annointed.
From Canada's The Walrus, October 30:
As the world’s demand for metals continues to rise, some are using microorganisms to mine and “clean” waste
When Nadia Mykytczuk first visited the mine sites near Copper Cliff, on the outskirts of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, in 2005, she saw rock piles stretching out in all directions—not so much dotting the landscape as forming their own. On first impression, says Mykytczuk, “you really can’t quite comprehend that everything you see around you is mine waste.” Some of that rubble is what is known as tailings—the crushed rock or wet slurry left behind after a company has extracted raw materials from ore. But to Mykytczuk, then a PhD student, those drab rock heaps looked a lot shinier.
Each year, Canada’s approximately 200 active mines contribute to the billions of tonnes of mining waste already accumulated in the country; that waste is then typically contained in pits or stored underground or in dams. While estimates vary wildly, there are thought to be anywhere between 1,800 and 8,500 tailing facilities worldwide. Many of them still contain some metals but at a concentration that for a long time was deemed too low to be worth extracting. So the discards mostly lie there, untouched, until someone finds another use for them. Which is what Mykytczuk has been working on over the past two decades.
Now an adjunct professor and the executive director at the Goodman School of Mines at Laurentian University, Mykytczuk is a specialist in biomining, a method by which bacteria and other microorganisms replace the chemicals that are conventionally used to extract metals from ores or remediate mine sites. This process was first harnessed for commercial purposes in the 1950s to obtain minerals such as copper from deposits with low metal concentrations or from the waste products of existing mines. It’s less energy intensive and costly than traditional mining. And now, biomining may be on the cusp of a boom: some proponents believe it could prove critical to the green energy transition that’s projected to help countries meet their emissions goals in the coming years.
“We talk about the climate crisis. We’ve actually got a mining crisis or metals crisis,” says John Steen, the director of the University of British Columbia’s Bradshaw Research Institute for Minerals and Mining. He cites S&P Global’s estimate that, in transitioning to green energy, manufacturers will need more copper in the next three decades than the world consumed over the past 120 years. Demand for copper is expected to roughly double between now and 2035, to make hardware such as rechargeable batteries, solar panel heat exchangers, and wind turbine generators. The question now is whether biomining can scale up fast enough to meet soaring demand. While it currently accounts for only around 15 to 20 percent of the world’s copper that’s extracted and 5 percent of gold, the sector is expected to grow. According to the market research and consulting firm Credence Research, biomining generated a total of $1.5 billion (US) for mining companies in 2020. The industry is expected to reach a market valuation of $3.6 billion (US) by 2027. That’s still a comparably minuscule portion of the roughly $2 trillion (US) global mining industry. But with the right technological boost, there’s potential for biomining to transform into a large-scale alternative to traditional, emissions-heavy, and often toxic metals extraction. To get there, Mykytczuk and other experts are betting on the microorganisms themselves....
....MUCH MORE
Recently: "The Future of Mining Is Deeper, Darker, and Riskier"
It's not an energy issue or a mining issue, it's a control issue. A warning, ignore it at your peril:
Always, Always Remember That Control Freaks Are Mentally Ill
And not nuts like the slightly ditzy Grandmas of stage and screen were but dangerously—try to hurt you if they get the chance—sometimes psychotically, off kilter.
And it doesn't matter whether they are Karens or Authoritarians or Totalitarians—those are just gradations of their power, if they think they have the advantage and perceive that you aren't fully participating in their delusions, they can seriously damage you...
In the case of citizen mobility there appears to be a concerted effort to reserve personal transportation for a top o'the heap hierarchy of ultra wealthy and nomenklatura while herding the masses onto public transport:
....As noted elsewhere, over the years:
I am getting the same vibe I get when talking with a very clever rhetorician or playing chess with someone much better than I, that somehow my options are being circumscribed, in ways and for purposes that I don't quite understand.....
