A new program launched by The University of Queensland (UQ) will provide an authoritative accounting of how much metal is needed for the energy transition, where it will come from, and what needs to be done to sustainably supply it.
A virtual atlas offering unprecedented insights into Australia’s mine waste sites has been released after geoscientists from across the country, including The University of Queensland (UQ), joined forces for a nationwide, collaborative project.
The urgency to provide metals for the energy transition is putting pressure on the legal safeguards and approval processes governing mining, according to University of Queensland (UQ) researchers, and the consequences could compromise sustainable development.
Iron and steelmaking account for 8% of the world’s carbon emissions and researchers from The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) are working to develop an alternative to the current smelting process that could rapidly accelerate the energy transition.
The ‘lithium triangle’ houses nearly 60% of the world’s lithium resources, and because of its use in clean energy technologies (like EV batteries), the region is experiencing a significant increase in global demand. However, lithium extraction in South America often occurs in ecologically sensitive high-altitude salt flats, often on ancestral Indigenous territories, adjacent to Indigenous or rural communities.
Sharing the environmental and social challenges facing an increasingly metal-hungry society will be a major aim for The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute’s (SMI) Associate Professor Anita Parbhakar-Fox as she steps into her new role as a Superstar of STEM.
