One of our readers directed me to this Twitter thread, and you should read it. John Lee Pettimore, a professional miner for 40 years, has seen it all, and he has some not-so-pleasant news about what we need to do to mother earth in pursuit of the Green Agenda.
We’ve covered some of this on these pages already, but there are a few revelations – new to me – that we can add to the toolbox.
Here’s how he starts.
As a miner for 40 years I have worked in various mines around the world. Gold, platinum, copper, coal, lead, zinc, oil and salt. I’m going to tell you something, and here it is. We will destroy the earth in the name of “Green Energy” Follow along and I will explain. 🧵
— John Lee Pettimore (@JohnLeePettim13) January 14, 2023
John goes on to explain the scope.
MiningWatch Canada is estimating that “[Three] billion tons of mined metals and minerals will be needed to power the energy transition” – a “massive” increase especially for six critical minerals: lithium, graphite, copper, cobalt, nickel and rare earth minerals
— John Lee Pettimore (@JohnLeePettim13) January 14, 2023
Over the next 30 years 7.5 billion of us, we will consume more minerals than the last 70,000 years or the past 500 generations, which is more than all of the 108 billion humans who have ever walked the Earth.
Emphasis Mine.
Mining requires the extraction of solid ores, often after removing vast amounts of overlying rock. Then the ore must be processed, creating an enormous quantity of waste – about 100 billion tonnes a year, more than any other human-made waste stream.
Purifying a single tonne of rare earths requires using at least 200 cubic meters of water, which then becomes polluted with acids and heavy metals. On top of that, imagine the destruction and energy required to obtain these essential metals:
18,740 pounds of purified rock to produce 2.2 pounds of vanadium 35,275 pounds of ore for 2.2 pounds of cerium 110,230 pounds of rock for 2.2 pounds of gallium 2,645,550 pounds of ore to get 2.2 pounds of lutecium Also staggering amounts of ore are needed for other metals.
By 2035, demand is expected to double for germanium; quadruple for tantalum; and quintuple for palladium. The scandium market could increase nine-fold, and the cobalt market by a factor of 24. (Marscheider-Wiedemann 2016 ‘raw materials for emerging technologies’).
Achieving even a fraction of the alleged green evolution will be messy and earth-damaging in ways so-called greens have not been told or never imagined.
There is nothing refined about mining. It involves crushing rock, and then using a concoction of chemical reagents such as sulphuric and nitric acid, a long and highly repetitive process using many different procedures to obtain a rare-earth concentrate close to 100% purity.
— John Lee Pettimore (@JohnLeePettim13) January 14, 2023
.
Do you think solar panels are “Green” Think again. There is nothing green about solar panels. Did you know we clear cut forests, not for panel placement but for the wood needed to produce the panels. Don’t believe me, have a read. https://t.co/wX4xCk9D9C
— John Lee Pettimore (@JohnLeePettim13) January 14, 2023
Green’ technologies require the use of rare minerals whose mining is anything but clean. Heavy metal discharges, acid rain, and contaminated water sources — it borders on being an environmental disaster. Put simply, clean energy is a dirty affair.
— John Lee Pettimore (@JohnLeePettim13) January 14, 2023
It seems unlikely that devotees, zealots if you like, of the Green Energy gods will be moved by these remarks.
And yeah, it’ll create jobs in China, Africa, and Russia, but they won’t be green. And for what? Energy solutions that can’t begin to meet our needs today, forget the all-electric future we’re ravaging the earth to pursue.
