IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v59y2018icp117-124.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The cost of mineral depletion in Latin America: An exergoecology view

Author

Listed:
  • Palacios, Jose-Luis
  • Calvo, Guiomar
  • Valero, Alicia
  • Valero, Antonio

Abstract

Latin America has always been a region of great interest not only for its rich-multicultural heritage, and diverse flora and fauna, but also for its natural resources that have become valuable commodities worldwide. In this paper an exergy-based analysis is used to investigate the cost of mineral depletion. By applying exergy replacement costs (ERC), a concept based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics, ERC determines the cost in exergy terms to recover minerals to its prior conditions with the current best available techniques when they have been completely dispersed after their usage. Such an assessment is a robust tool when evaluating natural resources in a country or region. We show that by using the above-mentioned methodology, it is possible to objectively quantify the loss of mineral wealth in Latin America associated to mineral extraction. Our study shows that the loss of mineral wealth in 2013 in the region was not compensated in comparison to the revenues obtained for the sale of minerals. Therefore, to establish a sustainable future scenario for the production of minerals in Latin America, a new framework for trading and management of fuel and non-fuel minerals is necessary.

Suggested Citation

  • Palacios, Jose-Luis & Calvo, Guiomar & Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio, 2018. "The cost of mineral depletion in Latin America: An exergoecology view," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 117-124.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:59:y:2018:i:c:p:117-124
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2018.06.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420717305263
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resourpol.2018.06.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jose-Luis Palacios & Guiomar Calvo & Alicia Valero & Antonio Valero, 2018. "Exergoecology Assessment of Mineral Exports from Latin America: Beyond a Tonnage Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Altomonte, Hugo & Sánchez, Ricardo, 2016. "Hacia una nueva gobernanza de los recursos naturales en América Latina y el Caribe," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 40157 edited by Cepal.
    3. Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio & Gómez, Javier B., 2011. "The crepuscular planet. A model for the exhausted continental crust," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 694-707.
    4. Gabriel Di Bella & Mr. Lawrence Norton & Mr. Joseph Ntamatungiro & Ms. Sumiko Ogawa & Issouf Samaké & Marika Santoro, 2015. "Energy Subsidies in Latin America and the Caribbean: Stocktaking and Policy Challenges," IMF Working Papers 2015/030, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Grosjean, Camille & Miranda, Pamela Herrera & Perrin, Marion & Poggi, Philippe, 2012. "Assessment of world lithium resources and consequences of their geographic distribution on the expected development of the electric vehicle industry," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 1735-1744.
    6. Alicia Valero & Antonio Valero, 2013. "From Grave to Cradle," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 17(1), pages 43-52, February.
    7. Hilson, Gavin & Hilson, Abigail & McQuilken, James, 2016. "Ethical minerals: Fairer trade for whom?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 232-247.
    8. Jeffrey A Frankel & Andrew K Rose, 2010. "Determinants of Agricultural and Mineral Commodity Prices," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: Renée Fry & Callum Jones & Christopher Kent (ed.),Inflation in an Era of Relative Price Shocks, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    9. Vikström, Hanna & Davidsson, Simon & Höök, Mikael, 2013. "Lithium availability and future production outlooks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 252-266.
    10. Pin-Chih Wang & Yuh-Ming Lee & Chiu-Yang Chen, 2014. "Estimation of Resource Productivity and Efficiency: An Extended Evaluation of Sustainability Related to Material Flow," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-18, September.
    11. Akbari, Ata D. & Mahmoudi, Seyed M.S., 2014. "Thermoeconomic analysis & optimization of the combined supercritical CO2 (carbon dioxide) recompression Brayton/organic Rankine cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 501-512.
    12. Hassan Athari & Saeed Soltani & Marc A. Rosen & Seyed Mohammad Seyed Mahmoudi & Tatiana Morosuk, 2015. "Comparative Exergoeconomic Analyses of Gas Turbine Steam Injection Cycles with and without Fogging Inlet Cooling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-22, September.
    13. Klossek, Polina & Kullik, Jakob & van den Boogaart, Karl Gerald, 2016. "A systemic approach to the problems of the rare earth market," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 131-140.
    14. Paul W. Gruber & Pablo A. Medina & Gregory A. Keoleian & Stephen E. Kesler & Mark P. Everson & Timothy J. Wallington, 2011. "Global Lithium Availability," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 15(5), pages 760-775, October.
    15. Anke Schaffartzik & Dominik Wiedenhofer & Nina Eisenmenger, 2015. "Raw Material Equivalents: The Challenges of Accounting for Sustainability in a Globalized World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-26, April.
    16. Szargut, Jan, 1989. "Chemical exergies of the elements," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 269-286.
    17. Childs, John, 2014. "A new means of governing artisanal and small-scale mining? Fairtrade gold and development in Tanzania," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 128-136.
    18. Calvo, Guiomar & Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio & Carpintero, Óscar, 2015. "An exergoecological analysis of the mineral economy in Spain," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 2-8.
    19. Henckens, M.L.C.M. & van Ierland, E.C. & Driessen, P.P.J. & Worrell, E., 2016. "Mineral resources: Geological scarcity, market price trends, and future generations," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 102-111.
    20. Mohammad Reza Majdi Yazdi & Mehdi Aliehyaei & Marc A. Rosen, 2015. "Exergy, Economic and Environmental Analyses of Gas Turbine Inlet Air Cooling with a Heat Pump Using a Novel System Configuration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-28, October.
    21. Gabriel Carmona, Luis & Whiting, Kai & Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio, 2015. "Colombian mineral resources: An analysis from a Thermodynamic Second Law perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 23-28.
    22. Abel Ortego & Alicia Valero & Antonio Valero & Eliette Restrepo, 2018. "Vehicles and Critical Raw Materials: A Sustainability Assessment Using Thermodynamic Rarity," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(5), pages 1005-1015, October.
    23. Joan Martínez Alier, 2001. "Environmental Conflicts, Environmental Justice, and Valuation," UHE Working papers 2001_03, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Departament d'Economia i Història Econòmica, Unitat d'Història Econòmica.
    24. Schlinkert, Dominik & van den Boogaart, Karl Gerald, 2015. "The development of the market for rare earth elements: Insights from economic theory," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(P2), pages 272-280.
    25. West, James & Schandl, Heinz, 2013. "Material use and material efficiency in Latin America and the Caribbean," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 19-27.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qi, Hai & Dong, Zhiliang & Dong, Shaohui & Sun, Xiaotian & Zhao, Yiran & Li, Yu, 2021. "Extended exergy accounting for smelting and pressing of metals industry in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Javier Felipe-Andreu & Antonio Valero & Alicia Valero, 2022. "Territorial Inequalities, Ecological and Material Footprints of the Energy Transition: Case Study of the Cantabrian-Mediterranean Bioregion," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-22, October.
    3. Li, Tianjiao & Wang, Anjian & Xing, Wanli & Li, Ying & Zhou, Yanjing, 2019. "Assessing mineral extraction and trade in China from 1992 to 2015: A comparison of material flow analysis and exergoecological approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Sofia Russo & Alicia Valero & Antonio Valero & Marta Iglesias-Émbil, 2021. "Exergy-Based Assessment of Polymers Production and Recycling: An Application to the Automotive Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Islam, Md. Monirul & Sohag, Kazi & Hammoudeh, Shawkat & Mariev, Oleg & Samargandi, Nahla, 2022. "Minerals import demands and clean energy transitions: A disaggregated analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    6. Jia, Hongxiang & Li, Tianjiao & Wang, Anjian & Liu, Guwang & Guo, Xiaoqian, 2021. "Decoupling analysis of economic growth and mineral resources consumption in China from 1992 to 2017: A comparison between tonnage and exergy perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jose-Luis Palacios & Guiomar Calvo & Alicia Valero & Antonio Valero, 2018. "Exergoecology Assessment of Mineral Exports from Latin America: Beyond a Tonnage Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Jia, Hongxiang & Li, Tianjiao & Wang, Anjian & Liu, Guwang & Guo, Xiaoqian, 2021. "Decoupling analysis of economic growth and mineral resources consumption in China from 1992 to 2017: A comparison between tonnage and exergy perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Guiomar Calvo & Alicia Valero & Luis Gabriel Carmona & Kai Whiting, 2015. "Physical Assessment of the Mineral Capital of a Nation: The Case of an Importing and an Exporting Country," Resources, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-14, November.
    4. Fernando Moreno-Brieva & Carlos Merino, 2020. "African international trade in the global value chain of lithium batteries," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 1031-1052, August.
    5. Simon, Bálint & Ziemann, Saskia & Weil, Marcel, 2015. "Potential metal requirement of active materials in lithium-ion battery cells of electric vehicles and its impact on reserves: Focus on Europe," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 104(PA), pages 300-310.
    6. Kai Whiting & Luis Gabriel Carmona & Angeles Carrasco & Tânia Sousa, 2017. "Exergy Replacement Cost of Fossil Fuels: Closing the Carbon Cycle," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-21, July.
    7. Whiting, Kai & Carmona, Luis Gabriel & Sousa, Tânia, 2017. "A review of the use of exergy to evaluate the sustainability of fossil fuels and non-fuel mineral depletion," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 202-211.
    8. Sverdrup, Harald Ulrik, 2016. "Modelling global extraction, supply, price and depletion of the extractable geological resources with the LITHIUM model," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 112-129.
    9. Behnaz Minooei Fard & Willi Semmler & Giovanni Di Bartolomeo, 2023. "Rare Earth Elements: A game between China and the rest of the world," Working Papers in Public Economics 235, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    10. Marta Iglesias-Émbil & Alejandro Abadías & Alicia Valero & Guiomar Calvo & Markus Andreas Reuter & Abel Ortego, 2022. "Criticality and Recyclability Assessment of Car Parts—A Thermodynamic Simulation-Based Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-22, December.
    11. Jose-Luis, Palacios & Abadias, Alejandro & Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio & Reuter, Markus, 2019. "The energy needed to concentrate minerals from common rocks: The case of copper ore," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 494-503.
    12. Valero, Alicia & Valero, Antonio & Calvo, Guiomar & Ortego, Abel, 2018. "Material bottlenecks in the future development of green technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 178-200.
    13. Jones, Ben & Elliott, Robert J.R. & Nguyen-Tien, Viet, 2020. "The EV revolution: The road ahead for critical raw materials demand," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    14. Li, Tianjiao & Wang, Anjian & Xing, Wanli & Li, Ying & Zhou, Yanjing, 2019. "Assessing mineral extraction and trade in China from 1992 to 2015: A comparison of material flow analysis and exergoecological approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    15. Antonio Valero & Alicia Valero, 2015. "Thermodynamic Rarity and the Loss of Mineral Wealth," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-16, January.
    16. Stanek, Wojciech & Czarnowska, Lucyna, 2018. "Thermo-ecological cost – Szargut's proposal on exergy and ecology connection," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 1050-1059.
    17. Wang, Jiajia & Yue, Xiyan & Wang, Peifen & Yu, Tao & Du, Xiao & Hao, Xiaogang & Abudula, Abuliti & Guan, Guoqing, 2022. "Electrochemical technologies for lithium recovery from liquid resources: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    18. Hache, Emmanuel & Seck, Gondia Sokhna & Simoen, Marine & Bonnet, Clément & Carcanague, Samuel, 2019. "Critical raw materials and transportation sector electrification: A detailed bottom-up analysis in world transport," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 6-25.
    19. Richa, Kirti & Babbitt, Callie W. & Gaustad, Gabrielle & Wang, Xue, 2014. "A future perspective on lithium-ion battery waste flows from electric vehicles," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 63-76.
    20. Lu, Bin & Liu, Jingru & Yang, Jianxin, 2017. "Substance flow analysis of lithium for sustainable management in mainland China: 2007–2014," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 109-116.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:59:y:2018:i:c:p:117-124. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.