Increasing Export Restrictions on Critical Minerals Threaten Energy Transition, OECD Says

WSJ ^ | April 11, 2023 | Yusuf Khan

[george76]

Raw materials such as cobalt and lithium have seen availability drop and prices rise—export restrictions may be playing a role

...

Rising export restrictions on lithium, cobalt and other raw materials critical to the energy transition threaten to slow the move to a greener economy, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

In a new report, the OECD said that over the last decade, export restrictions on critical minerals—usually in the form of taxes—have increased more than fivefold. From January 2009 to December 2020, the total number of export controls on industrial raw materials surged to 18,263 from 3,337. Now roughly 10% of the global value of critical raw material exports face at least one export restriction measure.

“Overall, the research so far suggests that export restrictions may be playing a non-trivial role in international markets for critical raw materials, affecting availability and prices of these materials,” ...

The OECD also highlighted in the report that many minerals crucial to the energy transition are concentrated in relatively few countries, giving the examples of Congo’s dominance over cobalt reserves and China’s near-monopoly of magnesium production.

China, India, Vietnam, Russia, Argentina and Kazakhstan were the top six countries introducing new restrictions between 2009 and 2020 ...These countries hold some of the largest reserves of critical raw materials and account for a significant share of their global production.

...

The value of trade in critical raw materials rose by 38% in the decade between 2007-2009 and 2017-2019 compared with a 31% rise over the same period for all products. Lithium, which is crucial in electric vehicle batteries, saw the largest jump with a 438% increase in trade.

[Tench_Coxe]

So is the WSJ disclosing/admitting that the “green new deal” is being driven by say...the WEF/Davos crowd?

[cp124]

Can they use bugs instead?

[mike_dill]

We have PLENTY of these materials here. The problem is that mining is dirty, and we object to making the mess here. If this was an actual urgent issue, we could mine all we wanted.