Mining Battery Metals: What, How, Where, Sustainable? – School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
The School of Earth and Environmental Sciences hosted a multidisciplinary conference in May, titled Mining Battery Metals: What, How, Where, Sustainable?
The afternoon event at the Bute Building brought together experts to explore the challenges and opportunities surrounding the mining of critical battery metals. With rising demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy storage, metals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper are increasingly in demand, and much of the future supply will need to come from mining.
While extraction offers opportunities for revenue, skills, and investment, it also raises environmental concerns, including deforestation, water contamination, and habitat destruction.
Conference organiser Dr Nick Gardiner noted that enabling decarbonisation would require significant increases in metals mining in the short to medium term, though supply chains for battery metals remain complex and vulnerable to geopolitical instability, particularly in regions such as central Africa.
The conference examined these issues through both geopolitical and geoscientific perspectives, drawing contributions from academia, industry, and other stakeholders. Speakers included Dr Emilka Skrzypek (Social Anthropology) and Dr Robert Armstrong (School of Chemistry) from St Andrews, alongside external experts Megan Leahy Wright, Head of Responsible Sourcing Advisory at RCS Global, and Fraser Gardiner, CEO of Aberdeen Minerals.