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The cost of mineral depletion in Latin America: An exergy based analysis

Abstract:

Latin America has 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 fact, Latin American countries have valuable reserves of copper, silver, tin, bauxite, nickel and other non-fuel minerals that are needed in the world. However, extraction of fuels and non-fuels minerals have produced different social, economical, political and environmental conflicts. In addition, illegal mining is a severe issue, especially gold. Percentages of illegal gold production may vary from 9 % until 80 % in countries such as, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and Brazil in 2015. In 2014, more than 70% of fuel and non-fuel minerals exports of Latin American countries were destined for Asia, North America and Europe. Through an exergy-based analysis, it is possible to quantify the cost of mineral depletion in Latin America. This analysis is fully completed with the application of Exergy replacement cost (ERC), which is a novel 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. Then the assessment becomes a robust tool when evaluating natural resources. In this paper, the Exergoecology method is used to assess the impact of trading of fuel and non-fuel minerals in Latin America. Taking 2013 as case study, results showed that the loss of mineral wealth expressed in ERC and then translated into economic terms is not compensated in comparison to its extractive GDP. To establish a sustainable future scenario for these valuable resources in Latin America, it is necessary a new framework on trading and management of fuel and non-fuel minerals.