General Motors has joined the Responsible Mining Assurance Initiative (IRMA), adding another element to the company's plans to support the sustainability and human rights of the electric vehicle supply chain.
IRMA promotes responsible mining practices through a comprehensive set of standards, covering the four principles of business integrity, active heritage planning, social responsibility and environmental responsibility.
As the demand for automotive batteries expands globally, access to battery materials becomes more and more important. Given the key role of electric vehicles in reducing the carbon footprint of the transportation sector, General Motors stated that it is committed to responsibly sourcing the mined materials needed for electric vehicle production.
GM has required suppliers to meet its standards and adhere to company values throughout the supply chain. IRMA certification builds on this requirement because it encourages comprehensive third-party assessments of mining practices while advancing a range of issues, including health and safety, waste management, and compliance with local and international laws. General Motors stated that its cooperation with the program will also promote cooperation with other companies to share best practices and promote the transformation of the mining industry to more responsible operations.
Membership in the program is the latest development in GM's commitment to promoting the sustainability of an all-electric future. In recent months, General Motors announced:
The company will reduce the use of cobalt, which is one of the essential mining materials for battery manufacturing. GM’s Ultium battery system requires a 70% reduction in cobalt.
The commercial cooperation with Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) enables GM to use a closed-loop, direct extraction process to extract local, low-cost lithium without producing tailings and lower carbon dioxide emissions compared to traditional processes.
The cooperation between Ultium Cells LLC and Li-Cycle can recycle up to 100% of battery manufacturing waste. The new recycling process will enable Ultium Cells to recycle battery materials, including cobalt, nickel, lithium, graphite, copper, manganese and aluminum. 95% of these materials can be used in the production of new batteries or in adjacent industries.
The strategic supplier agreement reached with Wolfspeed involves silicon carbide power device solutions. The agreement will enable General Motors to install a more efficient EV propulsion system, thereby extending the EV's range, reducing weight and saving space.
Signed a memorandum of understanding with GE Renewable Energy to evaluate opportunities to improve the supply of heavy and light rare earth materials and magnets, copper and electrical steel used in the manufacture of electric vehicles and renewable energy equipment. The two companies will jointly seek to support the establishment of a safe, North American and European-based supply chain policy for the rare earth, copper and electrical steel materials needed to support the growth of electric vehicles and renewable energy generation.
As the production scale of electric vehicles expands, GM plans to continue to promote sustainable development in the life cycle of electric vehicles through investment and innovation.
Published on December 1, 2021 in Battery, Materials, Mining, Sustainability, Vehicle Manufacturers | Permalink | Comments (3)
IMHO, this "green car" project is facing a huge challenge, pretending that lithium extraction will always be good for the environment and society!
Der Spiegel is Germany’s largest news source
https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/mining-the-planet-to-death-the-dirty-truth-about-clean-technologies-a-696d7adf-35db-4844-80be-dbd1ab698fa3?mc_cid= fe943a3217&mc_eid=b22a4d5bf8
Posted by Hugh Sharman | December 1, 2021 at 06:52 AM
Long but interesting article. My first comment is not to bet on long-term increases in commodity prices. In the long run, with the increase in mining and processing efficiency, the prices of most commodities are falling. One commodity I worry about is cobalt, because the biggest source is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is not the Democratic Republic. However, General Motors is reducing the amount of cobalt they need, and I expect that in the long run, they will use lithium-sulfur chemistry, which has more energy and uses zero cobalt. Sulfur is almost a commodity to be thrown away.
I live in Utah, about 20 miles from a major copper mine and processing facility, and about 40 miles from two major lithium sources. They are not a major environmental issue now, but copper processing may have been so in the past. Lithium is a by-product of other minerals extracted from the Great Salt Lake.
The best thing Germany can do for the environment is to reopen their nuclear power plants and stop burning coal and wood pellets. Compared with wind turbines, nuclear power plants require much less steel, copper and concrete to generate electricity. They are also safer. If they build a new Gen4 fast reactor, you can even use existing nuclear waste or depleted uranium or natural uranium as fuel. In the United States, it is estimated that our storage of depleted uranium is sufficient to provide 100% of electricity for 700 years. If this is not enough, there are nuclear processes that use thorium, which is richer than uranium.
Posted by: sd | December 1, 2021 at 07:53 PM
Gen4 fast heap this is the way
Posted by: SJC | December 3, 2021 at 12:51 AM
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