The image sticks to their skin. Coal pits, soot, Germinal. At every public meeting, mining companies fight against the reality depicted in Émile Zola’s classic: no, mines no longer have anything to do with those of the last century, nor the one before, get rid of this idea because they no longer serve the same purposes. The closure, two decades ago, of the last coal mines in France did not help to preserve, if not a “tradition”, rather an habituation of the population to the exploitation of the subsoil.
Imerys realizes this in Allier. The French multinational wants to open one of the largest lithium mines in Europe in Echassières by 2028. The executive and local elected officials defend the “Emili project”. Residents and environmentalists are concerned about environmental impacts – because there will always be some – and do not hesitate to make this known during the public debate opened at the beginning of March for a period of four months.
At the European level, global mining giant Rio Tinto has experienced otherwise vocal and massive opposition to its lithium mine project in Serbia, even larger than Imerys’. To the point of pushing the government to cancel, at the beginning of 2022, the operating permits and bury the program. Not deep enough, obviously, for the Anglo-Australian company to abandon its “Jadar project” and the hundreds of millions of euros already invested. Time seems to be on his side: Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić met the boss of Rio Tinto last January to reopen discussions…
Before, it was “Let’s live happily, live hidden”
It must be said that in two years, for various geopolitical reasons, the issues around critical metals have taken on immense weight in the race for energy transition. “Before, it was ‘Let’s live happily, live hidden’. But today, these industries are being brought to the forefront because they have a strategic interest. They are riding this wave to exploit isolated deposits for years because it was no longer up to date”, explains Sébastien Bourdin, professor of economic geography at EM Normandie.
The rare earth crisis between China and Japan, at the turn of the 2010s, was the first to reveal the importance of the supply of raw materials. “There was a seesaw effect, an awareness of the importance of the materiality of the transition,” notes Brice Laurent, researcher at the Center for Sociology of Innovation at Mines Paris. Of course, mining companies are not the only ones to benefit from the aspiration, “but they have become quite essential players in transition policies”, agrees the sociologist. The general manager of Rio Tinto’s Jadar project, Chad Blewitt, explains this to L’Express: “To achieve our climate change objectives, we must extract essential raw materials because there is no transition without critical materials. This requires dedicated European land procurement, more imports and more recycling. All three are needed.” In summary: we are essential.
“Sustainable”, “green” or “responsible”
In their communication, the miners thus play on “two arguments that hit the mark”, notes Sébastien Bourdin. The first: the necessary need for metals for the energy and digital transition – lithium or cobalt for batteries, rare earths for wind turbines. The second: it is in the interest of countries to secure their resources. “Europe and France must maximize what they can achieve from the deposits beneath their soil,” illustrates Chad Blewitt. “Clearly, if we do not want to be hit again by a global crisis or by inflation, we must play strategically, therefore producing locally rather than importing,” analyzes Sébastien Bourdin. This is the bet of the law on critical raw materials (Critical Raw Materials Act), definitively adopted in mid-March by the European Union. “An excellent start for the continent,” said the Rio Tinto leader, “even if there is still a lack of economic incentives for the mining industries.”
The latter are increasingly courted by governments – and they know it. Rio Tinto confirmed to L’Express that it was holding discussions with the executive “for an opportunity in France”. But convincing local populations is far from being so easy, especially with a history of environmental scandals in the baggage. The sector has therefore evolved its message and its lexicon. We are now talking about “sustainable”, “green” or “responsible” mines. This is howImerys defends its project in Allier. “It is imperative that the metals supply chain is responsible from end to end, from the extraction of the ore to the metals contained in the batteries,” also insists the French miner Eramet on its website. “Only the best mines will survive, those with the highest standards. Our vision today must tend towards mines with extremely marginal impacts on the environment,” defends Chad Blewitt.
“Air conditioning of discourse”
Sébastien Chailleux, lecturer at Sciences Po Bordeaux, sees this as a “climatization of the discourse, or a form of redefinition of the issues of the past through the prism of climate change”. A way, according to him, “to justify activities considered polluting with a “positive” side”. Since the 1990s, Canadian companies have pushed to bring about this variation of sustainable development in the context of mining activities. The notion was subsequently widely taken up by different actors, each in their own way. In 2015, the approach launched by a certain Emmanuel Macron, then Minister of the Economy, was called… “responsible mining”. It failed as quickly as the “mining revival” of its predecessor, Arnaud Montebourg. “We still do not really know what this responsible mine could produce in France. The new terms of the mining code need to be tested,” maintains Sébastien Chailleux.
To prove that they can be “responsible guardians of the land”, according to the head of Rio Tinto, the miners are advancing the technological map. The time for “modern mining” has come. “We have modern, proven technology capable of instantly monitoring the quality of water, air, noise and impacts on biodiversity,” explains Chad Blewitt. He also mentions a program based on “blockchain technology” developed by the company to monitor emissions from its aluminum and copper divisions, the use of drones and artificial intelligence. In short, light years from the life of Maheu and Lantier deep in the mines of Montsou.
“Pedagogy is often poorly done”
The sector is progressing and working hard to show it: more upstream studies, more transparency, more dialogue. In Serbia, Rio Tinto has met, over the past seven months, more than 2,800 people – opponents, citizens, NGOs – during around a hundred sessions to discuss its project. The debate around the Imerys mine in France is another example of the need to get the local population on board, the famous “social acceptability”. But for what result? “Public meetings are like the firemen’s ball: it’s always the same people who dance,” assures Sébastien Bourdin. “They only bring everyone’s positions to light, without making them evolve.” The information is generally top-down, or perceived as such by residents. When they don’t feel like the game is over. “The teaching is often poorly done: we do not explain the higher stakes of the projects,” adds the professor from EM Normandie.
“We fail to ask ourselves the fundamental questions,” confirms sociologist Brice Laurent. “What transition do we want? To develop what technology? To serve what collective objective, what transformation of society?” It is impossible to deal with these vast reflections within the sole scope of a mining project. And it is not in the interest of the companies that carry them to seize them, having to reassure both the populations… and their investors. A delicate position and sometimes contrary promises, which the new communication from the miners always struggles to mask.
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