Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University , Building 10, Level 13, Room 5a, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Faculty of Engineering, Monash University , Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
Environ Sci Technol. 2018 Feb 20;52(4):2055-2062. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.7b05022. Epub 2018 Jan 29.
Indium is a specialty metal crucial for modern technology, yet it is potentially critical due to its byproduct status in mining. Measures to reduce its criticality typically focus on improving its recycling efficiency at end-of-life. This study quantifies primary and secondary indium resources ("stocks") for Australia through a dynamic material-flow analysis. It is based on detailed assessments of indium mineral resources hosted in lead-zinc and copper deposits, respective mining activities from 1844 to 2013, and the trade of indium-containing products from 1988 to 2015. The results show that Australia's indium stocks are substantial, estimated at 46.2 kt in mineral resources and an additional 14.7 kt in mine wastes. Australian mineral resources alone could meet global demand (∼0.8 kt/year) for more than five decades. Discarded material from post-consumer products, instead, is negligible (43 t). This suggests that the resilience of Australia's indium supply can best be increased through efficiency gains in mining (such as introducing domestic indium refining capacity) rather than at the end of the product life. These findings likely also apply to other specialty metals, such as gallium or germanium, and other resource-dominated countries. Finally, the results illustrate that national circular economy strategies can differ substantially.
铟是一种对现代技术至关重要的特种金属，但由于其在采矿业中的副产品地位，它也具有潜在的关键性。减少其关键性的措施通常侧重于提高其在使用寿命结束时的回收效率。本研究通过动态物质流分析，对澳大利亚的主要和次要铟资源（“存量”）进行了量化。它基于对铅锌和铜矿床中铟矿物资源的详细评估、1844 年至 2013 年的采矿活动以及 1988 年至 2015 年的含铟产品贸易。结果表明，澳大利亚的铟存量很大，矿物资源中估计有 46.2 公吨，矿山废物中还有 14.7 公吨。仅澳大利亚的矿物资源就可以满足全球需求（约 0.8 公吨/年）超过五十年。相反，来自消费后产品的废弃材料微不足道（43 吨）。这表明，澳大利亚铟供应的弹性可以通过提高采矿效率（例如引入国内铟精炼能力）来实现，而不是在产品寿命结束时实现。这些发现可能也适用于其他特种金属，如镓或锗，以及其他资源主导型国家。最后，结果表明，国家循环经济战略可能存在很大差异。
