Minerals/table
< Minerals
| - Sources cited in table headings are the default sources, cited unless otherwise specified. - Table text is right-justified to make it easier to compare numbers visually. |
Mining | Recycling | |||||||||
| Mineral | Labor intensity[1] (hours/tonne) |
Energy intensity (GJ/tonne) |
Land intensity (m2/tonne) |
Global production[2] (tonnes/year) |
Global reserves[2] (tonnes) |
Global resources[2] (tonnes) |
Note | Labor intensity (hours/tonne) |
Energy intensity (GJ/tonne) |
Global production[2] (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) | 200 | [3] : 61 | 69,000,000 | Global resources of bauxite are estimated to be between 55 billion and 75 billion (metric) tons and are sufficient to meet world demand for metal well into the future.... As a general rule, 4 tons of dried bauxite is required to produce 2 tons of alumina, which, in turn, can be used to produce 1 ton of aluminum.: 16,000,000,000 |
In 2022, aluminum recovered from purchased scrap in the United States was about 3.4 million tons, of which about 56% came from new (manufacturing) scrap and 44% from old scrap (discarded aluminum products). Aluminum recovered from old scrap was equivalent to about 29% of apparent consumption. | ||||||
| Cement | 4,100,000,000 | Cement also has non-energy-related CO2 emissions: 0.81 tonnes CO2 per tonne cement. Also note that concrete is about 15% cement by mass; the rest is sand, rocks, and steel rebar. | |||||||||
| Chromium (Cr) | 41,000,000 | 560,000,000 | |||||||||
| Cobalt (Co) | Actual labor intensity is probably higher than this, because most cobalt comes from the Congo where wages are much lower than the "$4/hour average wage" used in estimating from mineral prices. : 2,974 | 190,000 | 8,300,000 | 25,000,000 | |||||||
| Copper (Cu) | 757 | [4] : 12 | 22,000,000 | 890,000,000 | A U.S. Geological Survey study of global copper deposits indicated that, as of 2015, identified resources contained 2.1 billion tons of copper, and undiscovered resources contained an estimated 3.5 billion tons.: 3,000,000,000 |
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| Gold (Au) | 4,935,542 | 3,100 | 52,000 | 15,000 discovered + 18,000 undiscovered Not sure why this is lower than reserves : 33,000 |
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| Graphite (C) | 1,300,000 | 330,000,000 | 800,000,000 | ||||||||
| Iron (Fe) | 50 | [5]per steel production : 20 | 1,300,000,000 | ||||||||
| Lead (Pb) | 168 | 4,500,000 | 85,000,000 | 2,000,000,000 | |||||||
| Lithium (Li) | 5,724 | 130,000 | 26,000,000 | 98,000,000 | |||||||
| Nickel (Ni) | 2,189 | 3,300,000 | 100,000,000 | 300,000,000 | |||||||
| Oil | [6] : 5,064,140,000 | [6] : 235,838,240,000 | |||||||||
| PGMs Platinum-group metals (Pt, Pd, Rh, Ir, Ru, Os) | based on a 50/50 average of platinum and palladium prices : 3,237,432 | 400 | 70,000 | 100,000 | |||||||
| Salt (NaCl) | 290,000,000 | ||||||||||
| Sand | 380,000,000 | ||||||||||
| Silver (Ag) | 58,236 | 26,000 | 550,000 | ||||||||
| Thorium (Th) | Production and reserves are associated with the recovery of monazite in heavy-mineral-sand deposits. Without demand for the rare earths, monazite likely would not be recovered for its thorium content under current market conditions. |
6,400,000 | |||||||||
| Uranium (U) | 9,517 | [7] : 8,070,000 | 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. | ||||||||
- ↑ Estimated from the market prices of minerals (unless otherwise specified) (www.dailymetalprice.com - Feb 17, 2023), using very simplified assumptions: global average wages of $4/hour; wages account for 1/3 of the mineral's market price. These assumptions are far from perfect, so if you know of more accurate data on the labor-intensity of any mineral, please post it in the discussion and we can fit it in the table.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Mineral Commodity Summaries 2023: U.S. Geological Survey, ISSN: 0076-8952 (print), https://doi.org/10.3133/mcs2023 - https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2023/mcs2023.pdf
- ↑ Aluminum Production - an overview - ScienceDirect Topics - www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/aluminum-production
- ↑ Energy efficiency - Energy intensity in copper and gold mining - https://www.at-minerals.com/en/artikel/at_-3001684.html
- ↑ Material and energy flows of the iron and steel industry - ScienceDirect - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030626192030458X
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Feb 17, 2023 - World Oil Statistics - Worldometer - https://www.worldometers.info/oil/
- ↑ Uranium 2020: Resources, Production and Demand ('Red Book')
The total recoverable identified resources to $260/kg U is 8.070 million tonnes U.