article · Resources Policy
The global energy transition requires an increasing volume of critical minerals and metals to counter the impacts of climate change. However, mining operations face diverse risks that threaten the uninterrupted supply of these essential materials from emerging markets. Drawing on resilience theory and risk management literature, a resilience framework has been developed to help mining enterprises and emerging market nations secure their mineral supply chains. The framework identifies and expands upon four main risk dimensions: machine and systems factors, human factors, general factors, and environmental factors. Establishing robust supply chain resilience requires the development of strong risk assessment and risk management capabilities, which moderate the influence of these risk dimensions on mineral delivery. These insights provide guidance for maintaining continuous resource flows and advancing theoretical understanding of supply chain resilience.
Switching to cleaner energy systems depends entirely on a stable supply of raw materials like critical minerals and metals. When mining operations in emerging markets face disruptions, global efforts to tackle climate change slow down. Identifying key operational and environmental vulnerabilities helps industries and governments protect these vital supply chains against costly interruptions.
The work offers a conceptual framework that mining companies and policymakers in emerging markets can use to guide risk management strategies and operational planning. As a critical literature review rather than a tested technical tool, it represents early-stage conceptual research requiring practical translation into enterprise risk assessment methodologies before direct commercial implementation.
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The mining industry is at a crossroads with the growing demand for exploration and exploitation of critical minerals for the energy transition to reverse the debilitating impacts of global warming such as heat waves, droughts, floods, hurricanes, and biodiversity loss. The industry has a significant role of supplying the critical minerals and metals required for the energy transition. Yet, it is faced with numerous risks which may hinder the uninterrupted supply of essential materials for the transition. This study leverages resilience theory and borrows insights from risk management literature to build a framework of mining industry supply chain resilience to help mining firms and emerging markets nations to seamlessly deliver critical raw materials. In this critical review of literature, we substantiate and expand on the four dimensions of risk categorised as machine and systems factors, human factors, general factors, and environmental factors, which must be addressed in building critical minerals and metals supply chain resilience. It is found that building supply resilience calls for developing strong risk assessment and management capabilities to moderate how the four dimensions of risk relate with supply chain resilience. The findings have significant practical implications for mining industry's ability to seamlessly maintain the supply of critical minerals from emerging markets, and for building theory of critical minerals and metals supply resilience.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2024.104887
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