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![]() ![]() ![]() Mineral scarcity may be real or hyped-for example, to reduce electric vehicles’ competition with oil, or to raise commodity or mining-stock prices for speculators. ![]() (Illustrating that article’s substitution thesis, the iron nitride supermagnets it mentioned four years ago as an experimental ambition have now come to market they contain no rare earths and theoretically could become twice as strong as the best rare-earth magnets.) That signal elicits more-efficient use, recycling, substitution, exploration, innovation, and other market responses, as I’ve described for rare earths. When a mined material is expected to become scarce, its price rises. I’ll outline here how they can become manageable if we include solutions often overlooked.īattery materials like lithium, nickel, and cobalt are a special case of a broader dynamic. These mineral concerns are indeed not trivial, but are often exaggerated. Among the most widespread and conflictual claims is that it’s immensely destructive if not impossible to find enough minerals to make all the batteries that a global fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) will need. Critiques range from grid reliability to land-use, from economy to equity. ![]() A flood of recent articles, whether spontaneous or coordinated, seeks to discredit renewable energy, electric vehicles, and other elements of the climate-saving energy transition. ![]()
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