Impact of Covid‐19 on the Mining Sector and Raw Materials Security in Selected European Countries

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Andrzej Galas
  • Alicja Kot‐Niewiadomska
  • Huber Czerw
  • Vladimir Simic
  • Linda Warell
  • Slavka Galas

External Organisational units

  • Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science
  • University of Belgrade
  • Luleå University of Technolgy
  • AGH University of Science and Technology Krakow

Abstract

Events that change the global economy rapidly, without warning, in principle strongly affect mining, which is one of the pillars of global development. After the first months of the Covid- 19 pandemic, the mining pillar seems to be relatively stable. In this study, thanks to the meeting of an international team, it was possible to collect and compare a set of data on the impact on mining. In contrast to the general assessments of the stability of the mining sector, the authors decided to assess the impact of Covid-19 at individual stages of the mining project life cycle. In this way, it was possible to identify the most impacted fragments of the mining pillar. It was assessed that the highest influence of Covid-19 is observed in projects implementing feasibility studies and in projects for the development of new mines. The same is true of extracting residual resources in mines prior to the closure decision. The medium impact was confirmed at the exploration and discovery stage. The authors conclude that the impact on the current mining production is smaller and the effects in this case are short term, which is mainly due to a continued strong demand for minerals in China, which has balanced the weaker demand in other parts of the world. On the other hand, stopping the exploration and development of new mines will have a long-term impact, including an increased possibility of disruption of the future security of supplies of raw materials.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number10050039
Number of pages23
JournalResources
Volume10.2021
Issue number5
Early online date23 Apr 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2021