CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – Stakeholders in the global minerals and metals industry, which uses 12% of global energy production, have been called to take responsibility in the quest for a more sustainable future.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) International Resource Panel member Dr Patrice Christmann said countries were going to face unprecedented natural resources challenges in the twenty-first century.

The growing middle class, defined as people whose revenue is between $10 and $100 a day, is largely driving this massive challenge. The growth is led by China and India.

Christmann, a geologist, said that, between 2005 and 2030, the middle class would grow by more than three-billion people. The production of key infrastructure minerals and metals is in for a sea change.

"In just slightly over two years, at current rates of production, China will produce as much cement as the US did between 1900 and 2014," he told delegates at the thirty-fifth International Geological Congress in Cape Town.

He said aluminium and cement would also be heavily in demand.

“When you realise how much coal you burn to produce these resources, you realise what kind of impact it will have on climate change, on water and on soil.”

While the rise of the middle class will lift people out of poverty, it will lead to an increase in the use of minerals and metals, which could risk an increase in greenhouse-gas emissions.

People are going to start consuming more natural resources. Stepping up to the middle class will mean a shift from sheer survival to being able to afford to buy a motorcycle made out of these resources, or to buy meat.

“This will have a huge impact on the future demand for raw materials,” said Christmann.

The move towards renewable-energy generation would also lead to higher demand for copper and silver. Other minerals were also set to be in great demand.

“Almost 20 years of aluminium production at the current rate will be needed just to satisfy the extra demand by 2030, with ten years for iron-ore,” said Christmann.

He said industry and others simply should not continue to use water and energy unsustainably.

“There will be 11.2-billion people on this planet by the end of the century. When I think of the problems this planet faces already with seven-billion, what will happen when we add another four-billion?”

Christmann said the mining industry needed to understand that sustainability was crucial.

“Earth, its global and local ecosystems, needs to be considered as the key stakeholder and the basis for sustainability.”

He said that while many countries had reported their sustainability performances, China had been absent despite being the world’s leading producer of well over 30 commodities.

Christmann said mineral-rich countries needed to be careful when choosing investors that would explore and possibly mine in their countries. Investors needed to show commitment to transparency.

“Soil and water, flora and fauna should be part of a modern feasibility study,” he suggested.

Christmann also called for zero operations out of tax havens and no transfer pricing practices.

The UNEP panel member said the potential impacts of mining, processing and smelting operations on surface- and groundwater, as well as soil, air and health, should be assessed in detail at the feasibility stage of a project, including any long-term geotechnical environmental problems that could arise after mine closure.

He pointed out that, in the worst case scenario, the cost of remediating derelict mine sites may exceed the direct tax revenue generated by these activities, leaving taxpayers exposed to significant long-term liabilities.