Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
7.7
3.3
Journals
Resources
Special Issues
Mineral Resources and Sustainable Development
share announcement

Mineral Resources and Sustainable Development

A special issue of Resources (ISSN 2079-9276).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 October 2020) | Viewed by 14266

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Olivier Vidal

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institut des Sciences de la Terre, 38610 Gières, France
Interests: mineral resources and energy; dynamic modeling; thermodynamic scenarios
Prof. Dr. Laurent Truche

E-Mail
Guest Editor
University Grenoble Alpes
Interests: ore-forming process; ore exploration; behavior of metals in deep and shallow geological fluids; education in mineral resources

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleague,

The world economy depends on the availability of huge amounts of mineral resources and energy. The future growth of the world population, the rapid economic development of populated countries, and the transition to digital and low-carbon technologies are expected to further increase their global consumption in the coming decades. Many questions arise regarding the future availability of mineral resources to producing and non-producing countries as well as the conditions for their primary extraction, downstream manufacturing, and recycling. Recent evaluations of short-term supply risks suggest that over the next 2–3 decades, an unprepared minerals industry will struggle to meet the demand for several metals for which substitutes are not readily available.

In addition to short-term economic considerations, the long-term sustainable use of mineral resources should minimize the negative impact of their production and preserve their availability for future generations. It is essential that mining activity is reconciled with environmental protection to allay the concerns of local populations. The concept of sustainability encompasses technical, social, environmental, economic, geopolitical, and energy dimensions. It must take into account the specificity of each resource and be embedded in global and local development scenarios. Sustainability also implies improved coordination between mineral exploration, business planning, and the ability to obtain the community’s social license to operate.

This Special Issue of Resources highlights the movement towards an active environmental and societal strategy for sustainably harnessing mineral resources with an emphasis on the following topics:

- Mineral resources and sustainable development,

- The metal–energy nexus, mining, and social challenges,

- Criticality assessment of resources, supply, and future needs,

- Education and training of the next generation of mineral resource managers,

- Exploration and characterization of critical metal ore deposits.

Dr. Olivier Vidal
Prof. Dr. Laurent Truche
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Resources is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mineral resources
  • sustainable development
  • supply and future needs
  • recycling and substitution
  • mining social and environmental challenges

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

15 pages, 1929 KiB  
Article
Social License to Operate in Mining: Present Views and Future Trends
by Konstantinos Komnitsas
Resources 2020, 9(6), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/resources9060079 - 25 Jun 2020
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 9374
Abstract
The social license to operate (SLO) is an informal social contract that aims to bridge the gap among the views of the most important stakeholders involved in mining activities. The novelty of this paper lies in the fact that it discusses the current [...] Read more.
The social license to operate (SLO) is an informal social contract that aims to bridge the gap among the views of the most important stakeholders involved in mining activities. The novelty of this paper lies in the fact that it discusses the current situation and the future prospects of granting a SLO, mainly at the European Union (EU) level, by considering the mine of the future, in terms of deep sea and landfill mining, and the criticality of raw materials that are required by high tech products as well as by emerging and green technologies. Also, it highlights the factors that may affect the views of all involved stakeholders, focusing on the joint efforts that are required by the industry and the society as well as on the main technological, social, political and legal issues which are relevant to the process. It is believed that if trust is developed between the involved stakeholders the SLO may prove an important tool in future mining in order to safeguard the supply of raw materials, minimize the environmental footprint and improve the quality of life in the affected regions. Finally, a conceptual flowsheet involving the main steps that may be followed for granting a SLO is proposed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mineral Resources and Sustainable Development)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

16 pages, 662 KiB  
Review
The Drive towards Consensual Perspectives for Enhancing Sustainable Mining
by Abdul-Wadood Moomen, Pierre Lacroix, Michela Bertolotto and David Jensen
Resources 2020, 9(12), 147; https://doi.org/10.3390/resources9120147 - 16 Dec 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4059
Abstract
This paper investigates key innovative paradigms that seek enhanced consensus building on the sustainable mining agenda of the mineral resource development industry and realities on the ground. It reviews the 55 most relevant academic articles from 2000 to 2019, retrieved from the Web [...] Read more.
This paper investigates key innovative paradigms that seek enhanced consensus building on the sustainable mining agenda of the mineral resource development industry and realities on the ground. It reviews the 55 most relevant academic articles from 2000 to 2019, retrieved from the Web of Science, PubMed and International Conference on Sustainable Development Indicators in the Metals Industry databases. A systematic scoping review method was used to sieve the multitudes of entries obtained from the databases to generate appropriate publications that match the search terms used. Our survey finds a dearth of literature on the subject. Only one article directly confers the need for consensus building on sustainable mining. The existing literature does not suggest the modalities that would enhance indigenous groups’ understanding and appreciation of sustainable mining. This creates a gap between stakeholders with regard to what flags sustainable mining. This study also finds a lack of efforts to incorporate sustainable mining concepts into academic courses focusing on either mining or sustainable development. Thus, this paper suggests that the existing delusions on sustainable mining can be addressed if the science of assessing and communicating the principles of sustainable development in mining is suitably developed and applied in higher educational curricula, environmental literacy feats, community-initiated research and outreach activities. Incorporating indigenous knowledge can address the existing gaps between stakeholder groups and in science. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mineral Resources and Sustainable Development)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop