There is a paradox occurring in the mining industry: when demand increases, especially for strategic minerals and metals that are important for energy and digital transition technologies, investment actually decreases. These observations emerge from the latest “mining risk barometer” conducted by consulting firm EY, published at the end of October. The survey, which has been conducted annually for twenty years, involves 500 mining industrialists on the main issues facing the sector around the world.
The main risks highlighted in the 2025 edition are “operational complexity” of these professions. As fewer deposits become easily accessible, ore quality declines (by an average of 40% since 1991, according to EY) and therefore profitability becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. Nowadays we need to mine deeper and deeper or in more remote areas, to get lower yields. As a result, metal recycling will increasingly establish itself as a sector of the future, especially in Europe, which is poor in mining resources.
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