Peak Metals

Facts and Figures

Collated by Jean Noël Montagné:

Peak of metals= huge price increase

• terbium, Hafnium, Antimony ==> crisis 2020/2025 (batteries)

• Palladium, Gold , Indium, Zinc ==> crisis 2023/2027 ( computers, electronics)

• Stain, Silver, Nickel ==> crisis 2028/2033 ( food industry, chemistry, metallurgy)

• Lead ==> crisis 2030/2035 ( batteries)

• Copper, tantalum ==> crisis 2035/2040 ( electricity, electronics)

• uranium, platinium ==> crisis 2060 ( nuclear energy, aerospace, chemistry)

• iron ==> crisis 2080

Peak Uranium

* Article: The end of cheap uranium. Michael Dittmar.

URL = http://ihp-lx2.ethz.ch/energy21/STOTEN14690.pdf

"We predict that uranium mine production will decline to at most 54 ± 5 ktons by 2025 and, with the decline steepening, to at most 41 ± 5 ktons around 2030. This amount will not be sufficient to fuel the existing and planned nuclear power plants during the next 10–20 years. In fact, we find that it will be difficult to avoid supply shortages even under a slow 1%/ year worldwide nuclear energy phase-out scenario up to 2025. We thus suggest that a worldwide nuclear energy phase-out is in order. If such a slow global phase-out is not voluntarily effected, the end of the present cheap uranium supply situation will be unavoidable. The result will be that some countries will simply be unable to afford sufficient uranium fuel at that point, which implies involuntary and perhaps chaotic nuclear phase-outs in those countries involving brownouts, blackouts, and worse."