Hasil untuk "Mineral industries. Metal trade"

Xu Lu, D. Morelli, Yi Xia et al.

N. Wibowo, Retno Wijayanti, H. P. Soewoto et al.

Purpose. To substantiate strategic approaches for the development of the precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) industry in Indonesia based on an analysis of the PCC market, taking into account the needs of industrial consumers, market segmentation, product requirements, and the availability of local mineral resources. Methods. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining secondary data from trade statistics, literature reviews, and company reports with primary data from field surveys and interviews. It analyzes import-export trends of PCC using HS codes 28365010 and 28365090, and maps industrial users across Java. Strategic analysis was conducted using the SWOT and BCG matrices to assess the competitiveness and growth potential of domestic PCC production. Findings. Indonesia’s PCC demand reaches 65393 tons per year, while domestic production is only 14600 tons (22%), resulting in an import dependency of around 75%. It creates an import substitution opportunity of 50793 tons per year. The SWOT analysis shows that the main strength is abundant limestone reserves, but production capacity, environmentally friendly technology, and international certification remain limited. Based on the BCG Matrix, the food and transparent plastic sectors are prioritized as “Stars”; paint and cigarette paper as “Cash Cows”; pharmaceuticals and cosmetics as “Question Marks”; and adhesives as “Dogs” with low priority. Originality. This study links geological potential with strategic industrial development, especially in the context of import substitution and mineral downstreaming policy. Practical implications. The government needs to simplify licensing and provide downstream incentives to close the 50793-ton import gap. Producers must focus on the food and pharmaceutical segments and meet international certification standards. R&D support and environmentally friendly carbonation technology are important to reduce import dependency by 75%.

Moh. Riziq

This study aims to analyze institutional dynamics in Indonesia's political economy changes and their implications for downstreaming policies and national economic resilience amid global geopolitical fragmentation, including escalating competition between major powers (US and China) and trade disputes at the WTO. Downstreaming of natural resources is positioned as a strategic instrument to increase domestic economic value, strengthen industrialization, and improve Indonesia's bargaining position in the global supply chain. The methods used in this study are descriptive qualitative research with a historical-institutional analysis and policy analysis approach. Data was obtained from various sources, including regulations related to downstreaming and mineral resources, books, academic publications, government policies, and other relevant sources. The results show that strengthening the role of the state in the management of strategic resources enables the implementation of more offensive downstreaming policies, such as the ban on nickel ore exports, which has triggered increased investment in smelters and significant growth in the basic metal processing industry. Downstreaming has proven to expand the domestic industrial base and contribute to economic resilience. However, the effectiveness of the policy is highly dependent on the quality of the bureaucracy, transparency of governance, and Indonesia's capacity to manage external geopolitical pressures. As a result, downstreaming can serve as a strategic pillar of sustainable economic development as well as an instrument of national resilience in an increasingly fragmented global era. Keywords: Downstreaming, Political Economy, Economic Resilience, Global Geopolitics JEL: A11, A13

Mahesh Raheja

Many mineral discoveries fail to transition into operating mines despite reporting strong early exploration results. While these failures are often attributed to market conditions, permitting delays, or financing constraints, the underlying causes are frequently visible much earlier-during the interpretation of exploration data itself. This article examines why exploration success is routinely mistaken for mining viability and how grades, when viewed in isolation, create false confidence. It argues that geometry, continuity, structural coherence, and data density are far more decisive determinants of long-term success. Drawing on recurring industry patterns across base and precious metal projects, the article also explores how selective disclosure and behavioural bias shape market perception and internal decision-making. Finally, it identifies early warning signals that experienced professionals can recognise and outlines how boards, investors, and managers can improve capital discipline by detecting failure risk before projects advance into costly development stages.

Pieter Van Vaerenbergh, Uğur Can Hekim

Steel and base metals stand at the core of the European Union’s trade defence practice. Numerous anti-dumping, anti-subsidy, and anticircumvention measures are applied to imports of steel and other metal products, supplemented by the steel safeguard measure. The EU’s focus is not limited to steel products, but extends to aluminium, ferro-alloys and other base metals. Despite the extensive use of trade defence measures, the current legal framework shows shortcomings to provide sufficient protection against unfair imports of steel and base metal products from countries such as China, Russia and India. To address the calls from the EU industry that the existing measures are insufficient, especially with the upcoming expiry of the steel safeguard measure, the EU recently introduced a new tool designed specifically to counter the adverse effects of global steel overcapacity, the scope of which may expand to cover other metals in the future.

Samuel Hardwick

Trade agreements are often understood as shielding commerce from fluctuations in political relations. This paper provides evidence that World Trade Organization membership reduces the penalty of political distance on trade at the extensive margin. Using a structural gravity framework covering 1948 to 2023 and two measures of political distance, based on high-frequency events data and UN General Assembly votes, GATT/WTO status is consistently associated with a wider range of products traded between politically distant partners. The association is strongest in the early WTO years (1995 to 2008). Events-based estimates also suggest attenuation at the intensive margin, while UN vote-based estimates do not. Across all specifications, GATT/WTO membership increases aggregate trade volumes. The results indicate that a function of the multilateral trading system has been to foster new trade links across political divides, while raising trade volumes among both close and distant partners.

Ruimin Ma, Sebastian Zudaire, Zhen Li et al.

Object 6DoF (6D) pose estimation is essential for robotic perception, especially in industrial settings. It enables robots to interact with the environment and manipulate objects. However, existing benchmarks on object 6D pose estimation primarily use everyday objects with rich textures and low-reflectivity, limiting model generalization to industrial scenarios where objects are often metallic, texture-less, and highly reflective. To address this gap, we propose a novel dataset and benchmark namely \textit{Industrial Metallic Dataset (IMD)}, tailored for industrial applications. Our dataset comprises 45 true-to-scale industrial components, captured with an RGB-D camera under natural indoor lighting and varied object arrangements to replicate real-world conditions. The benchmark supports three tasks, including video object segmentation, 6D pose tracking, and one-shot 6D pose estimation. We evaluate existing state-of-the-art models, including XMem and SAM2 for segmentation, and BundleTrack and BundleSDF for pose estimation, to assess model performance in industrial contexts. Evaluation results show that our industrial dataset is more challenging than existing household object datasets. This benchmark provides the baseline for developing and comparing segmentation and pose estimation algorithms that better generalize to industrial robotics scenarios.

Zhen Gao, Yong Geng, Ziyan Gao et al.

Tantalum is not only one of the critical metals applied in various advanced industries such as electronics, aerospace, military, and medical applications, but also is considered a conflict mineral, posing a threat to its global supply security. China plays a significant role in the tantalum industrial chain; however, the complete picture of its anthropogenic tantalum cycle remains unknown. This study investigates the tantalum cycles in China from 2000 to 2021 by conducting a dynamic material flow analysis. The results reveal that China's domestic tantalum consumption surged from 91 tons in 2000 to 580 tons in 2021. China heavily relied on importing tantalum minerals to support its domestic production, with a trade dependence rate of 90 %. Moreover, the trade volume of tantalum-related commodities experienced substantial growth from 2000 to 2014 and then fluctuated, with tantalum concentrates as the primary imported goods and electronic products as the primary exported goods. Approximately 24.9 % of the overall tantalum demand was met with secondary tantalum, in which 80 % of such secondary material being recovered during the refining and production stages. Policy recommendations are proposed accordingly, including diversifying tantalum mineral resources and increasing the recovery rates from end-of-life products. These policies can significantly contribute to achieving sufficient tantalum supply and maintaining sustainable tantalum supply chain in China.

L. Donnelly, Duncan Pirrie

Civilization has always relied on geological materials and it would not exist as we know it without the use of minerals. For the foreseeable future, minerals will remain fundamentally important commodities. As technology changes, so does the demand for different mineral commodities. For example, as we enter the era of the battery revolution, expedited by vehicle electrification and a reduction in the burning of traditional fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), demand for minerals used in battery technologies is predicted to increase significantly. In 2022 alone, the global mining industry had a value of over 2000 billion US dollars. Where such huge amounts of money are involved, it is unsurprising that criminal activity follows. Criminal activity in the mining, minerals and metals industries includes illegal mining and smuggling, theft (including adulteration and substitution), illegal trade in conflict minerals, fakes, fraud and environmental crime (e.g. pollution, contamination and degradation of the land, air and water). In this article, we provide an overview of the types of criminal activities associated with geological materials and the potential role of forensic geologists in mitigating the associated risks.

Zijie Pan, Stepan Gordeev, Jiahui Zhao et al.

This paper presents a novel methodology for predicting international bilateral trade flows, emphasizing the growing importance of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) in the global trade landscape. Acknowledging the limitations of traditional models like the Gravity Model of Trade, this study introduces a two-stage approach combining explainable machine learning and factorization models. The first stage employs SHAP Explainer for effective variable selection, identifying key provisions in PTAs, while the second stage utilizes Factorization Machine models to analyze the pairwise interaction effects of these provisions on trade flows. By analyzing comprehensive datasets, the paper demonstrates the efficacy of this approach. The findings not only enhance the predictive accuracy of trade flow models but also offer deeper insights into the complex dynamics of international trade, influenced by specific bilateral trade provisions.

Rodrigo A. González, Paulina Quintanilla

This study presents a grey-box recursive identification technique to estimate key parameters in a mineral flotation process across two scenarios. The method is applied to a nonlinear physics-based dynamic model validated at a laboratory scale, allowing real-time updates of two model parameters, n and C, in response to changing conditions. The proposed approach effectively adapts to process variability and allows for continuous adjustments based on operational fluctuations, resulting in a significantly improved estimation of concentrate grade - one key performance indicator. In Scenario 1, parameters n and C achieved fit metrics of 97.99 and 96.86, respectively, with concentrate grade estimations improving from 75.1 to 98.69 using recursive identification. In Scenario 2, the fit metrics for n and C were 96.27 and 95.48, respectively, with the concentrate grade estimations increasing from 96.27 to 99.45 with recursive identification. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed grey-box recursive identification method in accurately estimating parameters and predicting concentrate grade in a mineral flotation process.

Tom Seccull, Wesley C. Fraser, Dominik A. Kiersz et al.

We present new optical reflectance spectra of three potentially silicate-rich trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs). These spectra were obtained with the aim of confirming past hints and detections of 0.7 micron absorption features associated with the presence of iron-bearing phyllosilicates. Our new spectrum of 120216 (2004 EW95) presents clearly detected absorption features that are similar in shape to hydrated mineral absorption bands present in the spectra of aqueously altered outer main belt asteroids. Four new reflectance spectra of 208996 (2003 AZ84) obtained at separate epochs all appear featureless, but vary significantly in spectral gradient (between approximately 3.5 %/0.1 micron and 8.5 %/0.1 micron) on a timescale consistent with this object's nominal rotational period. We report the first four optical reflectance spectra of 90568 (2004 GV9), finding them all to be featureless but consistent with colors previously reported for this object. We speculate that impacts are the only mechanism capable of delivering, excavating, or forming hydrated minerals at the surfaces of TNOs in detectable concentrations; as a result, any deposits of hydrated minerals on TNOs are predicted to be localized and associated with impact sites. Globally altered TNOs (as observationally suggested for 2004 EW95) plausibly formed more easily at smaller heliocentric distances (< 15 au) before being transplanted into the current trans-Neptunian population.

P. Christmann

Minerals and metals are ingredients necessary for the production of multiple goods and services that are essential to contemporary societies, feeding frequently complex global supply chains. The development of the modern, material-intensive lifestyles has led to a formidable acceleration of their production, particularly since the middle of the 20th century. Despite all the progress that can and needs to be done towards a circular, resource-efficient global economy, several important trends including: demographic growth (United Nations 2019), the rapid development of the global middle class (Kharas 2017), growing urbanisation (United Nations 2018) and the transition towards a low-carbon global economy (Hund et al. 2020) demographic growth (United Nations 2019), the rapid development of the global middle class (Kharas 2017), growing urbanisation (United Nations 2018) and the transition towards a low-carbon global economy (Hund et al. 2020) point towards a continued, exponential growth of the global demand and production of minerals and metals (Christmann 2017; Elshkaki et al. 2018; Halada et al. 2008; Hund et al. 2020; Schipper et al. 2018). Despite the efforts made by some producers and some authorities to strengthen the already important contribution of the minerals and metals industry to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the production of minerals and metals has negative impacts both on the global and on local ecosystems. It already contributes to 16% of global CO2 emissions (OECD 2019) and it generates about 50 bn t solid waste per year, 25 times the estimated annual amount of urban waste (Franks et al. 2021). This waste is composed of mostly barren rock fragments, essentially overburden that needed to be stripped to access the ore, and of fine-grained ore processing tailings. The latter, if containing sulphides such as pyrite and residual minerals containing elements such as arsenic, cadmium, mercury, selenium or tellurium, can become highly problematic for the well-being of future generations. The production of minerals and metals also can be a source of conflicts and of social disruption. Failure to globally and sustainably manage the production of minerals and metals, in a transparent and multilateral framework providing a stable, foreseeable and level playing field for investors and for trade, could limit the capacity of the industry to reply to future demand and lead to potentially disastrous global conflicts. Depending on the practices of individual producers, on the quality of national and/or regional regulatory frameworks and on the effectiveness of their implementation, a same mineral or metal can be produced under very differing environmental and social conditions. Despite progress on sustainability performance reporting and of transparency of some parts of the industry, end-users of minerals and metals do not know how the minerals and metals they use have been produced and they hardly can choose among various supply sources, although from a sustainability perspective there are great differences among the practices of individual producers. The development of an international governance framework to support the development of transparency and verifiable corporate accountability, to foster research and innovation to reduce the negative impacts of the industry and to provide incentives rewarding pro-sustainability action, is called for. Support to document and disseminate best practice and best available technologies as well as to strengthen the global institutional capacities to manage this very complex and vital industry is needed. This could be an important role for a future International Minerals and Metals Agency. So far, only the exploration and mining of deep-sea mineral deposits located in international zones of the oceans are internationally regulated under the UN Convention On the Law Of the Sea (UNCLOS), with a specific International Agency in charge of its implementation and of the provision of scientific and technical guidance: the International Seabed Authority (Kingston, Jamaica), created in 1994. The European Union could and should play an important role in these developments as it is an important global end-user of minerals and metals mostly produced outside its borders. The EU’s environmental footprint outside its borders is very high and growing. According to EUROSTAT trade data, EU imports of goods from beyond its borders doubled in value from 2002 to 2018, with China’s share having grown by over 460% over this period, representing 19% of the total imports of goods. China is the world largest greenhouse gas emitter. EU’s very strong point is its long history of successful research and innovation, dating back to the Renaissance (15th Century BCE). Its very large and highly qualified human resources in science and innovation much benefits from progressive European-scale structuration and integration of mineral- and metal-related research and innovation thanks to the European Union raw material–related policies developed since 2008 (European Commission 2008) under the EU Raw Materials Initiative (see p. 20 ff.). The EIT Raw Materials, launched in 2015, is the world largest organised and funded mineral- and metal-related innovation network, linking over 120 partners from academia, industry and research organisations (EIT Raw Materials, 2021). But, despite these positive developments, it so far lacks the legal basis to develop its own mineral resource policy and its own homogeneous regulatory framework. It nevertheless can act in different areas that are linked to the development of a global, minerals and metals industry based on sustainable development principles through its capacity to act as European Union in domains such as development cooperation, energy, environment, higher education, research and innovation, as well as trade. It will require long-term vision and political leadership to develop and implement a sustainable EU raw materials policy that would also act as a catalyst for the development of much needed global minerals and metals governance. The publication by the European Commission, in September 2020, of its Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials, part of the European Raw Materials Initiative launched in 2008, could be an important step to address the issues outlined in this paper.

Peng Wang, Li-Yang Chen, Jianping Ge et al.

Abstract Renewables rely heavily on critical materials. Such material (metal)-energy nexus thinking is critical to guarantee global renewable transition. As the largest energy consumer, China aims to promote the unprecedented installation of renewables to significantly decarbonize energy system till 2050. However, the material constraints to those renewable targets have been widely neglected by current stakeholders in China. In this paper, a quantitative framework is proposed to identify and quantify the corresponding material constraints on energy transition from a material cycle perspective. Accordingly, the required critical material demand for China’s 2050 renewable transition and its flow, loss, and stock along the life cycle are quantified. It is found that the critical materials (i.e. Cadmium, Tellurium, Indium, Gallium, Selenium, and Germanium) required by solar power in China are all under high shortage and supply risk. Their cumulative demand from 2015 to 2050 will exceeded the present national reserve by 1.4–123-fold. Approximately 804–1056 thousand tons (kt) of Neodymium and 66–85 kt of Dysprosium are required to support the growth of wind power, which account for around 10% with the current reserve in China. Nevertheless, the limited scalability of rare earth production in China may still constrain wind power development. Hence, China should adjust its renewable pathways (e.g. more wind, less solar) based on the critical mineral endowment. Furthermore, recycling is preferred but has limited impact on material criticality mitigation before 2030, and it is then suggested more actions should be made on the international trade and material efficiency improvement along the life cycle to support future renewable needs.

Pramod Kumar, P. Pandey

Ziyang Huang, Tianshu Lan, Lixin Dai et al.

Optical device is a key component in our lives and organic liquid crystals are nowadays widely used to reduce human imprint. However, this technology still suffers from relatively high costs, toxicity and other environmental impacts, and cannot fully meet the demand of future sustainable society. Here we describe an alternative approach to colour-tuneable optical devices, which is based on sustainable inorganic liquid crystals derived from two-dimensional mineral materials abundant in nature. The prototypical two-dimensional mineral of vermiculite is massively produced by a green method, possessing size-to-thickness ratios of >103, in-plane magnetisation of >10 emu g-1, and an optical bandgap of >3 eV. These characteristics endow two-dimensional vermiculite with sensitive magneto-birefringence response, which is several orders of magnitude larger than organic counterparts, as well as capability of broad-spectrum modulation. Our finding consequently permits the fabrication of various chromic devices with low or even zero-energy consumption, which can be used for sustainable optics.

S. Jowitt, Brian A. McNulty

Editor’s note: The Geology and Mining series, edited by Dan Wood and Jeffrey Hedenquist, is designed to introduce early-career professionals and students to a variety of topics in mineral exploration, development, and mining, in order to provide insight into the many ways in which geoscientists contribute to the mineral industry. Resource and reserve estimation is a critical step in mine development and the progression from mineral exploration to commodity production. The data inputs typically change over time and reflect variations in geoscientific knowledge as well as the modifying factors required by regulation for estimating a reserve. These factors include mineral (ore) processing, metallurgical treatment of the ore, infrastructure requirements for mine and workforce, and the transportation of processed products to buyers; others that will affect the production of metals and/or minerals from a deposit include economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social, and governmental factors. All are needed by the mining industry to quantify the contained mineralization within mineral deposits that likely warrant the significant capital investment required to build a mine. However, these resource and reserve data are estimates that change over time due to unpredicted variations in the initial inputs. Paramount to the two estimates are the quality and accuracy of the geologic inputs and the communication of these to the professionals tasked with making each estimate. Geostatistical processing of the grade of the resource has become a dominant element of the estimation process, but this requires transparent and informed communication between geologists and mining engineers with the geostatistician responsible for mathematically processing the grade data. Regulatory constraints also mean that estimated resources and reserves seldom capture the full extent of a mineral deposit. Similarly, co- and by-product metals and minerals that are commonly produced by mines may not be captured by resource and reserve estimates because of their limited economic contribution. This suggests that reporting standards for co- and by-products—particularly for the critical metals that may have a sharp increase in demand—need improvement. Finally, the importance of these data to the mining industry is such that informing investors and the broader public about the nature of resource and reserve estimates, and the meaning of associated terminology, is also essential when considering the global metal and mineral supply, and the role of mining in modern society.

N. Mancheri

Anastasia Novikova, Alina Karabchevsky

Conventional fabrication methods to produce graphene are cumbersome, expensive and are not ecology friendly. This is due to the fact that a large volume of raw materials requires a large number of acids and alkalis, which in turn requires special disposal. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new technologies or refine existing technologies for the production of graphene and create new ecology-safe and effective methods to produce graphene. Here, we utilized the physical dispergation to extract graphene films from natural mineral shungite rock. We studied the structure of shungite via Raman spectrometry and X-ray phases analysis and found that the shungite refers to graphite-like mineral structures. From spectral data, we learned that the main constituent of shungite is amorphous carbon in sp2 and sp3 forms. Transmission electron microscopy images of the processed material revealed that the obtained graphene films with well-developed surfaces are as small as 200 nanometers. Our green fabrication method of graphene can be widely used in a variety of fields from electronics (electrodes), optics, biotechnology (biosensors), ecology (sorbents for wastewater, air purification) to list a few.

Petra Martinková, Kamila Janovská, Šárka Vilamová et al.

Export oriented companies are extremely important for the Czech Republic as a highly open economy. These companies contribute to the generation of GDP and ensure that the current account on its balance of payments remains balanced. International trade is currently enjoying rapid growth because most trading subjects are aware of the importance of developing international activities which aim to sell products on foreign markets. This high sectoral concentration of Czech exporters along with a significant territorial export orientation primarily towards EU states means the Czech Republic is highly vulnerable to fluctuations and economic disturbances on foreign markets. The research investigates application of the gravity model of foreign trade on selected branches of the manufacturing industry and identifies significant factors which affect trade flow. The main aim of the research was to determine statistically significant export variables and generally confirm the suitability of using the gravity model equation as a tool for analysing trade flow and discovering trade potential. Part of the research involved compiling a basic modified export gravity model of foreign trade. This model allows identification of the statistically significant explanatory variables which fundamentally affect the Czech Republic’s exports. The paper presents this model and the outputs which relate to selected commodities produced by the manufacturing industry, such as basic metals, coke and oil products, chemical substances and preparations, etc.