Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • COMMENT

COVID-19 disruptions to tech-metals supply are a wake-up call

The pandemic has temporarily closed mines, factories and borders and destabilized flows of cobalt, lithium and other metals that are crucial for batteries, wind turbines and solar panels.
  1. Ata Akcil

    1. Ata Akcil is professor of engineering and technical senior expert for critical raw materials in the Mineral-Metal Recovery and Recycling Research Group, Department of Mining Engineering, Süleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Zhi Sun

    1. Zhi Sun is professor of metal recycling at the National Engineering Laboratory for Hydrometallurgical Cleaner Production Technology, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. Sandeep Panda

    1. Sandeep Panda is an assistant professor of mineral biotechnology in the Mineral-Metal Recovery and Recycling Research Group, Department of Mining Engineering, Süleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

A truck drives around the edge of a open pit copper mine at sunset

An open-pit copper mine at the Mutanda works run by Glencore in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Credit: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty

Solar panels, wind turbines and batteries need silicon, cobalt, lithium and more to convert and store energy. Access to these elements, known as technology metals, is crucial for combating climate change. Some 3 billion tonnes of metals and minerals will be needed to decarbonize the global energy system by 2050, the World Bank estimates1. Supplies were stretched before COVID-19. Now, the tech-metals sector is in disarray.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 587, 365-367 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03190-8

References

  1. Hund, K., La Porta, D., Fabregas, T. P., Laing, T. & Drexhage, J. Minerals for Climate Action: The Mineral Intensity of the Clean Energy Transition (World Bank, 2020).

  2. World Bank. Commodities Market Outlook: Implications of COVID-19 for Commodities (World Bank, 2020).

  3. US Geological Survey. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2020 (USGS, 2020).

  4. Australian Government, Department of Industry, Innovations and Science, Australian Trade and Investment Commission. Australia’s Critical Minerals Strategy 2019 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2019).

  5. US Department of Energy. Testimony of Daniel Simmons, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, September 17, 2019 (US Dept of Energy, 2019); available at http://go.nature.com/3thsscc

  6. Kim, T.-Y. & Karpinski, M. Clean Energy Progress After the COVID-19 Crisis Will Need Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals (International Energy Agency, 2020).

  7. EIT RawMaterials. Position Paper on COVID-19 (EIT RawMaterials, 2020); available at http://go.nature.com/2jjmxbg

  8. Işıldar, A. et al. J. Hazard. Mat. 362, 467–481 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Sun, Z. et al. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 5, 21–40 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Sethurajan, M. et al. Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol. 49, 212–275 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links