Archive:000/Minerals/table

i- Sources cited in table headings are the default sources, cited unless otherwise specified. - Table text is right-justified to make it easier to compare numbers visually.	Mining							Recycling
Mineral	Labor intensity (hours/tonne)	Energy intensity (GJ/tonne)	Land intensity (m2/tonne)	Global production (tonnes/year)	Global reserves (tonnes)	Global resources (tonnes)	Note	Labor intensity (hours/tonne)	Energy intensity (GJ/tonne)	Global production (tonnes/year)	Global presenceiDefined as: The total amount ever mined to date. This could theoretically be seen as a "resource" to eventually recycle. (tonnes)
Aluminium (Al)	200	: 61		69,000,000		iGlobal resources of bauxite are estimated to be between 55 billion and 75 billion (metric) tons and are sufficient to meet world demand for metal well into the future. ... As a general rule, 4 tons of dried bauxite is required to produce 2 tons of alumina, which, in turn, can be used to produce 1 ton of aluminum. : 16,000,000,000
Cement				4,100,000,000			iCement also has non-energy-related CO2 emissions: 0.81 tonnes CO2 per tonne cement. Also note that concrete is about 15% cement by mass; the rest is sand, rocks, and steel rebar.
Chromium (Cr)				41,000,000	560,000,000
Cobalt (Co)	iIf this was instead estimated the 'default' way (from mineral prices), it would be 2,974 hours/tonne. But that's likely an underestimate because most cobalt comes from the Congo where wages are much lower than the "$4/hour average wage" used in estimating labor from mineral prices. : 4,094			190,000	8,300,000	25,000,000	iParticles emitted during cobalt mining consists radioactive emissions, cancer-causing particles, and particles which may cause vision problems, vomiting and nausea, heart problems, and Thyroid damage. Cobalt is an important gamma-ray source which is used as a radio therapeutic agent for cancer treatment (Baskar, Lee, Yeo, & Yeoh, 2012).
Copper (Cu)	757	: 12		22,000,000	890,000,000	iA U.S. Geological Survey study of global copper deposits indicated that, as of 2015, identified resources contained 2.1 billion tons of copper, and undiscovered resources contained an estimated 3.5 billion tons. : 3,000,000,000
Gold (Au)	4,935,542			3,100	52,000	i15,000 discovered + 18,000 undiscovered Not sure why this is lower than reserves : 33,000
Graphite (C)				1,300,000	330,000,000	800,000,000
Iron (Fe)	50	iper steel production : 20		1,600,000,000	85,000,000,000	230,000,000,000
Lead (Pb)	168			4,500,000	85,000,000	2,000,000,000
Lithium (Li)	5,724		iAlternative estimate: 407 m^2/tonne, from The high-altitude basin contains around 40 per cent of the world's lithium reserves in about 3000 square kilometres. - New Scientist - Drought, not lithium mining, is drying out Chile's largest salt flat - https://www.newscientist.com/article/2345815-drought-not-lithium-mining-is-drying-out-chiles-largest-salt-flat/ : 58	130,000	26,000,000	98,000,000
Nickel (Ni)	2,189			3,300,000	100,000,000	300,000,000
Oil	48		: 6	: 5,064,140,000	: 235,838,240,000
PGMs iPlatinum-group metals (Pt, Pd, Rh, Ir, Ru, Os)	ibased on a 50/50 average of platinum and palladium prices : 3,237,432			400	70,000	100,000
Salt (NaCl)				290,000,000
Sand				380,000,000
Silver (Ag)	58,236			26,000	550,000
Thorium (Th)					iProduction and reserves are associated with the recovery of monazite in heavy-mineral-sand deposits. Without demand for the rare earths, monazite likely would not be recovered for its thorium content under current market conditions.	6,400,000	iIf breeder reactors succeed as a technology, thorium could offer a lot more energy than it takes to mine it. Additional thorium resources could maybe be obtained from ordinary dirt, but we don't know yet whether this would really be viable: The labor/energy/land intensity of this option is still unknown.[RESEARCH needed] Average soil concentration of thorium is (6 ppm).
Uranium (U)	9,517					: 8,070,000	iUranium offers a lot more energy than it takes to mine it. The energy density of uranium is 574699 GJ/tonne for conventional nuclear reactors, and 82099829 GJ/tonne as a theoretical maximum for breeder reactors. Uranium occurs in nature as a mix of two isotopes: U235 (0.7%) and U238 (99.3%). Conventional nuclear reactors can only make use of the U235 component.