Change search
Link to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Publications (10 of 69) Show all publications
Ericsson, M., Löf, A., Löf, O. & Muller, D. B. (2024). Cobalt: corporate concentration 1975-2018. Mineral Economics, 37(2), 297-311
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Cobalt: corporate concentration 1975-2018
2024 (English)In: Mineral Economics, ISSN 2191-2203, E-ISSN 2191-2211, Vol. 37, no 2, p. 297-311Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The world’s dependency on cobalt mines in Congo and cobalt refineries in China is seen as serious security issues with potentially dangerous implications for the energy transition. However, Chinese refineries have a similar supply security issue as most of its cobalt concentrates are imported. Most supply security studies take a country perspective on market concentration and supply risks. However, control of the mines and refineries lies with the producing companies, not the governments of the countries where they are located. This paper analyses the corporate structure of the cobalt industry at the mine and the refinery stages over a longer time period to establish changes in the level of corporate concentration and to put the situation in 2018 in perspective. The level of corporate concentration at the mine stage is low and does not raise concerns for market failures or a lack of competitiveness. Corporate concentration of refined cobalt depends on the Chinese government’s influence over Chinese production: if the state control over individual refineries is assumed to be strong, the corporate concentration is high. Mine stage supply security could be strengthened by improving the general political stability in the DRC to make the country more attractive for investors other than the present ones. Increased local beneficiation would strongly benefit Congo and reduce China’s influence. This is a long and complicated process and its success is not at all certain. At the refinery stage, the solution is much easier: reliability of supply could be improved by constructing refineries in countries outside China.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2024
Keywords
Cobalt, Corporate concentration, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, F 51, N 50, Q 34
National Category
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified
Research subject
Economics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-101622 (URN)10.1007/s13563-023-00391-1 (DOI)001068394000001 ()2-s2.0-85171673019 (Scopus ID)
Note

Validerad;2024;Nivå 1;2024-08-16 (marisr);

Funder: Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA), project “International cooperation for Rational Use of Raw Materials and Circular Economy” (COOPMIN), conducted in Division of Strategic Research in the MEERI PAS (2019–2020), (project no. PPI/APM/2018/1/00003)

Full text license: CC BY 4.0

Available from: 2023-10-11 Created: 2023-10-11 Last updated: 2024-08-16Bibliographically approved
Ericsson, M. (2024). How tight is the Chinese grip on world’s metal supply?. Mineral Economics, 37(4), 729-732
Open this publication in new window or tab >>How tight is the Chinese grip on world’s metal supply?
2024 (English)In: Mineral Economics, ISSN 2191-2203, E-ISSN 2191-2211, Vol. 37, no 4, p. 729-732Article in journal, Editorial material (Other academic) Published
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2024
National Category
Economics
Research subject
Economics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-111389 (URN)10.1007/s13563-024-00482-7 (DOI)2-s2.0-85214655538 (Scopus ID)
Note

Godkänd;2025;Nivå 0;2025-01-28 (hanlid);

Available from: 2025-01-28 Created: 2025-01-28 Last updated: 2025-01-28Bibliographically approved
Ericsson, M., Löf, O. & Löf, A. (2024). Locus of control over global mine production– developments between 1985 and 2018 against a historical background. Mineral Economics, 37, 633-643
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Locus of control over global mine production– developments between 1985 and 2018 against a historical background
2024 (English)In: Mineral Economics, ISSN 2191-2203, E-ISSN 2191-2211, Vol. 37, p. 633-643Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

It is a well-known fact that mine production has shifted from the industrialised countries of Europe, North America and Japan to emerging economies in Latin America, Africa and Asia and to Australia since the mid-20th century. The lack of self-sufficiency or high import dependence, in particular of the so-called critical metals, has become an issue of great political concern in these industrialised countries over the past 15 years. This study of six metals, cobalt, copper, iron ore, lithium, manganese and rare earths, contrasts this picture of geographical location of production with an analysis of where the control over mine production around the world is based, which we call the locus of control. Production might have moved out of the industrialised countries but control over production by companies based in the industrialised countries remains and has even increased between 1985 and 2018. We measure control as share of the total value of the production of the six metals. European transnational mining companies have increased their control from 14 to 18% while mining companies based in North America have lost control, a decline from 13 to 8%. When Australian companies, that have more than tripled their control in the same period, are added, control by the industrialised countries has increased to 44% of these six metals. Companies based in Latin America, Africa and Asia excluding China, taken together have maintained their control level, roughly a third of the total value of the six metals. Inside this group of countries African share has dwindled from 12 to 3% while Asian companies have more than doubled their share from 5 to 12%. Control by mining companies based in the republics of the former Soviet Union have been reduced from 25 to 7% while in the same period Chinese companies’ control has doubled from 6 to 12% of the total value of these six metals. Countries in Asia (excluding China) together with Latin American and African countries produce 51% of these six metals measured by the value at the mine stage. However, companies based in these countries control not more than 33% of the production.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2024
Keywords
Cobalt, Copper, Corporate concentration, Corporate control, Iron ore, Lithium, Manganese, Rare earths
National Category
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Research subject
Economics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-108954 (URN)10.1007/s13563-024-00454-x (DOI)001290675600002 ()2-s2.0-85201197450 (Scopus ID)
Note

Validerad;2024;Nivå 1;2024-11-19 (sarsun);

License fulltext: CC BY;

Available from: 2024-09-10 Created: 2024-09-10 Last updated: 2025-02-07Bibliographically approved
Simoni, M. U., Drielsma, J. A., Ericsson, M., Gunn, A. G., Heiberg, S., Heldal, T. A., . . . Müller, D. B. (2024). Mass-Balance-Consistent Geological Stock Accounting: A New Approach toward Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources. Environmental Science and Technology, 58(2), 971-990
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Mass-Balance-Consistent Geological Stock Accounting: A New Approach toward Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources
Show others...
2024 (English)In: Environmental Science and Technology, ISSN 0013-936X, E-ISSN 1520-5851, Vol. 58, no 2, p. 971-990Article, review/survey (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Global resource extraction raises concerns about environmental pressures and the security of mineral supply. Strategies to address these concerns depend on robust information on natural resource endowments, and on suitable methods to monitor and model their changes over time. However, current mineral resources and reserves reporting and accounting workflows are poorly suited for addressing mineral depletion or answering questions about the long-term sustainable supply. Our integrative review finds that the lack of a robust theoretical concept and framework for mass-balance (MB)-consistent geological stock accounting hinders systematic industry-government data integration, resource governance, and strategy development. We evaluate the existing literature on geological stock accounting, identify shortcomings of current monitoring of mine production, and outline a conceptual framework for MB-consistent system integration based on material flow analysis (MFA). Our synthesis shows that recent developments in Earth observation, geoinformation management, and sustainability reporting act as catalysts that make MB-consistent geological stock accounting increasingly feasible. We propose first steps for its implementation and anticipate that our perspective as “resource realists” will facilitate the integration of geological and anthropogenic material systems, help secure future mineral supply, and support the global sustainability transition.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Chemical Society (ACS), 2024
Keywords
digital economy, geoinformation management, material flow analysis (MFA), mineral depletion, mineral resources, sustainability reporting, United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC)
National Category
Environmental Management Environmental Sciences Geology
Research subject
Economics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-103735 (URN)10.1021/acs.est.3c03088 (DOI)001144027000001 ()38166114 (PubMedID)2-s2.0-85181554762 (Scopus ID)
Funder
EU, Horizon 2020, 730330
Note

Validerad;2024;Nivå 2;2024-01-16 (hanlid);

Funder: Norwegian University of Science and Technology;

Full text license: CC BY

Available from: 2024-01-16 Created: 2024-01-16 Last updated: 2025-02-10Bibliographically approved
Sun, X., Hao, H., Galeazzi, C., Fishman, T., Xun, D., Ericsson, M., . . . Zhao, F. (2024). Reducing supply risk of critical materials for clean energy via foreign direct investment. Nature Sustainability, 7(5), 672-681
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Reducing supply risk of critical materials for clean energy via foreign direct investment
Show others...
2024 (English)In: Nature Sustainability, E-ISSN 2398-9629, Vol. 7, no 5, p. 672-681Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Existing research on the security of the supply of critical materials for clean energy generally aggregates information at the country level, a practice that obscures the extensive role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the production of critical materials. FDI refers to an ownership stake in a company or project by an overseas investor. Here we establish a database for global mining of lithium, cobalt, nickel and platinum at company level, covering 240 countries and regions. We show that 47% of lithium, 71% of cobalt, 41% of nickel and 34% of platinum mined in 2019 were under FDI. We then explore how FDI may affect supply risks by proposing a supply risk index that allocates production of the critical materials to the country of origin of investors instead of the country where production is located. We present upper and lower bounds of the supply risk index that reflect scenarios where either all investors or only state investors prioritize the home-country demand, respectively. This study presents an approach for assessing the national supply risks of critical materials, considering the geographical allocation of FDI.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2024
National Category
Economics
Research subject
Economics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-105402 (URN)10.1038/s41893-024-01329-3 (DOI)001205040100002 ()2-s2.0-85190785534 (Scopus ID)
Note

Validerad;2024;Nivå 2;2024-07-02 (hanlid);

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China (72122010, 72334001, 71774100, 71991484); National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFC1908501)

Available from: 2024-05-08 Created: 2024-05-08 Last updated: 2024-07-02Bibliographically approved
Söderholm, P., Ericsson, M. & Hellman, F. (2024). The perils of ranking mining countries and regions: a critical look at the annual survey of the Fraser Institute. Mineral Economics, 37(2), 313-330
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The perils of ranking mining countries and regions: a critical look at the annual survey of the Fraser Institute
2024 (English)In: Mineral Economics, ISSN 2191-2203, E-ISSN 2191-2211, Vol. 37, no 2, p. 313-330Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The attractiveness of mineral investments across countries and regions worldwide can be judged through various measures, each with its strengths and weaknesses. The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the Fraser Institute’s ranking of mining jurisdictions, which builds on eliciting the perceptions of industry representatives around the world through an annual survey. The analysis takes stock in the growing scholarship on country performance indicators and concludes that due to the low response rate and the lack of clear definitions of some of the underlying concepts (e.g., political stability), there are reasons to question both the reliability and the validity of this survey. There could also exist incentives among exploration companies to “game” the rankings. For these reasons, the ranking outcomes do not constitute a meaningful scorecard that countries can employ to improve their mining-related policies. However, despite these deficiencies, the Fraser Institute’s survey often enjoys relatively uncritical media attention. It even sets in motion a political “rankings game” in which the mining companies, governments, and other organized groups choose to participate. There is an urgent need for a more reliable and unbiased survey approach, including the consideration of alternative—complementing—measures for assessing investment attractiveness in the mining industry.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2024
Keywords
Country performance indicators, Expert opinion, Geology, Investment attractiveness, Mineral exploration, Policy
National Category
Economics
Research subject
Economics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-102513 (URN)10.1007/s13563-023-00405-y (DOI)001087818600002 ()2-s2.0-85174599792 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Vinnova, 2022-03182
Note

Validerad;2024;Nivå 1;2024-08-14 (sofila);

Full text license: CC BY

Available from: 2023-11-20 Created: 2023-11-20 Last updated: 2024-08-14Bibliographically approved
Ericsson, M., Söderholm, P. & Wårell, L. (2023). Professor Marian Radetzki (1936-2022) in memoriam. Mineral Economics, 36(1), 187-188
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Professor Marian Radetzki (1936-2022) in memoriam
2023 (English)In: Mineral Economics, ISSN 2191-2203, E-ISSN 2191-2211, Vol. 36, no 1, p. 187-188Article in journal, Editorial material (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.)) Published
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2023
National Category
Economics
Research subject
Economics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-93577 (URN)10.1007/s13563-022-00347-x (DOI)000859587200003 ()
Note

Godkänd;2023;Nivå 0;2023-04-20 (hanlid);

Available from: 2022-10-13 Created: 2022-10-13 Last updated: 2023-04-20Bibliographically approved
Ericsson, M. (2023). The evolving structure of the global mining industry: [Comment l’industrie minière mondiale évolue]. Matériaux & Techniques, 111(3), Article ID 303.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The evolving structure of the global mining industry: [Comment l’industrie minière mondiale évolue]
2023 (English)In: Matériaux & Techniques, ISSN 0032-6895, Vol. 111, no 3, article id 303Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The green energy transition has been called a transition from a fossil fuel dependency to a metal and mineral dependency. Concerns about the security of future supplies are raised mainly in the EU and the USA with the Critical Raw Materials Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. The perspectives of these policies are centred on the demands created in the industrialised countries. The need for metals to lift billions of poor people out of poverty and to cater for the population growth is often, if not always, left out of the equation. While demand undoubtedly is increasing, the opposition to new mines and new renewable energy supply is strong and perhaps even increasing. It is necessary to find new ways to create a recognition that mining plays a key role for the green transition.

Abstract [fr]

À propos de la transition écologique, la transition verte, on parle du passage d’une dépendance aux énergies fossiles à une dépendance aux métaux et aux minéraux. Les inquiétudes relatives à la sécurité des approvisionnements futurs sont explicites dans l’Union européenne et aux États Unis, à travers le Critical Raw Materials Act et l’Inflation Reduction Act. Le point de vue de ces politiques est entièrement centré sur la demande exprimée par les nations industrielles. Le besoin de métaux pour sortir des milliards de gens de la pauvreté et pour assurer la croissance encore à venir de la population est souvent, sinon toujours ignoré. Alors que la demande est clairement croissante, l’opposition à l’ouverture de nouvelles mines et de nouvelles ressources en énergies renouvelables est forte, voire elle aussi en croissance. Il est nécessaire de trouver de nouvelles façons de rendre intelligibles à un grand nombre que l’exploitation minière joue un rôle central dans la transition verte.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
EDP Sciences, 2023
Keywords
mining industry structure, corporate concentration, social acceptance, theory of change, organisation du secteur minier, concentration des entreprises, acceptabilité sociale, théorie du changement
National Category
Business Administration
Research subject
Economics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-99117 (URN)10.1051/mattech/2023017 (DOI)001009115900001 ()2-s2.0-85164287263 (Scopus ID)
Note

Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-07-04 (hanlid)

Available from: 2023-07-04 Created: 2023-07-04 Last updated: 2023-10-28Bibliographically approved
Johnson, E. L., Ericsson, M. & Löf, A. (2023). The mining permitting process in selected developed economies. Land use policy, 131, Article ID 106762.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The mining permitting process in selected developed economies
2023 (English)In: Land use policy, ISSN 0264-8377, E-ISSN 1873-5754, Vol. 131, article id 106762Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article surveys the mining permitting process and discusses the process to obtain permits for the exploration and mining of metals in five industrialised countries: Sweden, Finland, Poland, Western Australia (Australia) and Ontario (Canada). The purpose is to provide an overview of the permitting process when the demand for metals may grow at a faster pace than ever before. The countries have been chosen for their well-developed mining industries while still representing different historical and legal backgrounds and traditions. Focus lies on three aspects of the permitting process: Mining policy, legislation and permits; Environmental legislation and permits and; Stakeholder influence/participation including appeals. We describe the present situation in all countries in detail. The mining policy and legislation in the countries studied are converging and the mining laws are becoming increasingly similar. Legislation is being revised at shorter intervals, and minor additions and amendments can be made in between completely new legislation. In all the five countries emphasis is placed on ensuring that the permitting process is transparent and open from the first exploration steps to the closure of a depleted mine. Governments are developing new policies, legislation, regulations and permitting processes to ensure that the growing demand can be met while at the same time the increasing demands by various stakeholders on land use, environmental and social developments can increasingly be included in the permitting process.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier Ltd, 2023
Keywords
Environmental legislation, Mining legislation, Mining Permitting Process, Stakeholders
National Category
Economics
Research subject
Economics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-99425 (URN)10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106762 (DOI)001018479900001 ()2-s2.0-85163376392 (Scopus ID)
Note

Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-08-10 (joosat);

Licens fulltext: CC BY License

Available from: 2023-08-10 Created: 2023-08-10 Last updated: 2023-08-10Bibliographically approved
Buchholz, P., Ericsson, M. & Steinbach, V. (2022). Breakthrough technologies and innovations along the mineral raw materials supply chain - towards a sustainable and secure supply INTRODUCTION. Mineral Economics, 35(3-4), 345-347
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Breakthrough technologies and innovations along the mineral raw materials supply chain - towards a sustainable and secure supply INTRODUCTION
2022 (English)In: Mineral Economics, ISSN 2191-2203, E-ISSN 2191-2211, Vol. 35, no 3-4, p. 345-347Article in journal, Editorial material (Other academic) Published
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2022
National Category
Economics
Research subject
Economics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-93331 (URN)10.1007/s13563-022-00349-9 (DOI)000854668600001 ()2-s2.0-85138038212 (Scopus ID)
Note

Godkänd;2022;Nivå 0;2022-11-30 (sofila)

Available from: 2022-10-05 Created: 2022-10-05 Last updated: 2023-09-06Bibliographically approved
Organisations
Identifiers
ORCID iD: ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0002-6395-1001

Search in DiVA

Show all publications