MIT Researchers Discuss How Nickel Mining Impacts Communities and How it Can Be Produced Sustainably

With more and more countries working to reduce emissions globally, the demand for metals and minerals required for clean energy tech has increased significantly. While current demand can be met, the harming of local environments and strain experienced by existing supply chains may soon affect the supply of these critical minerals.

New research has looked into whether nickel can be produced in a sustainable way. The research was conducted by a team of 12 researchers, including Prof. Elsa Olivetti; Karan Bhuwalka and Basuhi Ravi, who recently graduated with PhDs.

Nickel is needed for electric car batteries as well as wind turbines and solar panels. When asked why nickel’s importance in the clean energy space was growing and some of the issues in its supply chain, Olivetti stated that nickel sulfate was needed for EV battery cathodes as they helped increase driving ranges for these vehicles.

The professor of materials science and engineering explained that the element’s supply chain involved mining it from ore deposits, processing it, and refining it into nickel sulfate. She discussed how mining this element often led to the displacement of communities, deforestation and possible contamination of water and soil from mining waste.

Additionally, she highlighted how some nickel processing pathways were energy intensive and could increase the carbon footprint of batteries rich in the mineral.

Currently, Indonesia holds the largest nickel reserves worldwide. In 2023, the country supplied almost half of all the nickel mined globally. Since 2016, the Asian country has recorded a tenfold increase in nickel production.

When asked about how nickel extraction has impacted Indonesia, Ravi discussed how the surge in nickel production had fueled economic growth in some of the country’s regions. However, she continued, it had also been linked to deforestation in various biodiversity-rich regions and negative health impacts as a result of air pollution from nickel processing.

Additionally, there have been reports of land grabbing, insufficient job quality, and displacement of indigenous communities. The country’s reliance on fossil fuels to process nickel has also resulted in high carbon intensity for nickel produced in the Asian nation.

In their report, the MIT researchers also discussed what policymakers and the industry as a whole could do to improve environmental safety while meeting new demand.

On the demand side, Bhuwalka posits that countries that consume a lot of nickel can create incentives for firms to acquire nickel from producers that prioritize sustainability. On the supply side, nations that produce nickel could enact policies to mitigate the adverse social and environmental impacts of the mineral’s extraction.

In their conclusion, the researchers added that favoring projects which met high social and environmental standards and the use of responsible investment practices by global financial institutions could also contribute to a sustainable and stable nickel supply chain.

Many extractive industry players like Fathom Nickel Inc. (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF) are investing efforts to address many of the concerns about the process of exploring for and mining nickel. There is hope that the concerns these researchers point out could gradually be eliminated during nickel mining and processing operations.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Fathom Nickel Inc. (CSE: FNI) (FSE: 6Q5) (OTCQB: FNICF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/FNICF

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