Minerals/table
< Minerals
| Mining | Recycling | ||||||||||
| Mineral | Labor intensity (hours/tonne) |
Energy intensity (GJ/tonne) |
Land intensity (m2/tonne) |
Global production (tonnes/year) |
Global reserves (tonnes) |
Global resources (tonnes) |
Note | Labor intensity (hours/tonne) |
Energy intensity (GJ/tonne) |
Global production (tonnes/year) |
Global presenceDefined as: The total amount ever mined to date. This could theoretically be seen as a "resource" to eventually recycle. (tonnes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminium (Al) | |||||||||||
| Cement | |||||||||||
| Cobalt (Co) | |||||||||||
| Copper (Cu) | |||||||||||
| Graphite (C) | |||||||||||
| Iron (Fe) | |||||||||||
| Lithium (Li) | |||||||||||
| Nickel (Ni) | |||||||||||
| PGMs Platinum-group metals (Pt, Pd, Rh, Ir, Ru, Os) | |||||||||||
| Sand | |||||||||||
| Silver (Ag) | |||||||||||
| Thorium (Th) | |||||||||||
| Uranium (U) | The energy density of uranium is much higher, at 574699 GJ/tonne for conventional nuclear reactors, and 82099829 GJ/tonne as a theoretical maximum for breeder reactors. Uranium occurs in nature as a mix of two isotopes: U235 (0.7%) and U238 (99.3%). Conventional nuclear reactors can only make use of the U235 component. | ||||||||||