Physical Assessment of the Mineral Capital of a Nation: The Case of an Importing and an Exporting Country

Guiomar Calvo, Alicia Valero, Luis Gabriel Carmona and Kai Whiting
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Guiomar Calvo: Research Centre for Energy Resources and Consumption (CIRCE), Mariano Esquillor n.15, Zaragoza 50018, Spain
Alicia Valero: Research Centre for Energy Resources and Consumption (CIRCE), Mariano Esquillor n.15, Zaragoza 50018, Spain
Luis Gabriel Carmona: Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Universidad Piloto de Colombia. Carrera 9 No. 45A-44, Bogotá 110231, Colombia
Kai Whiting: MARETEC, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Rovisco Pais, 1, Lisboa 1049-001, Portugal

Resources, 2015, vol. 4, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Intensified mineral consumption and reserve depletion means that it is becoming increasingly important for policymakers to account for and manage national mineral capital. Exergy replacement costs (ERC), an indicator based on the second law of thermodynamics, provides a physical value of mineral loss. When only a unit mass analysis is used, the role of scarcer minerals, such as gold, is obscured. ERC can identify those minerals which are most critical and more difficult to re-concentrate. This paper compares the mineral depletion of that of Colombia and Spain for 2011, both in mass and ERC terms. The Colombian mineral balance for that year is predominately based on fossil fuel extraction and exports, whilst Spain produced industrial minerals but relied heavily upon metals and fossil fuel imports. Using exergy replacement costs, an economic analysis was carried out to determine the impact of mineral extraction, in monetary terms, should the cost of re-concentrating such minerals be taken into account. In 2011, the GDP derived from the extractive sectors of either country did not compensate the mineral resource loss, meaning that mineral patrimony is not being properly evaluated.

Keywords: exergy analysis; exergy replacement costs; domestic material consumption; assessment of mineral trade; foreign dependency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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