3 The Me tals Ec os ys tem 3 1 Introduction to nonferrous metals Nonferrous metals are essentially building block s of our society Their value chains connect to vital infrastructure lik e buildings transport electronics strategic sectors lik e defence as well as almost every other economic sector such as food jewellery and so on They are particularly indispensable and irreplaceable in the production of lowcarbon technologies This means that the ongoing transition to a climate neutral economy can be e xpected to be metals intensive The nonferrous metals industry in Europe is worth EUR 120 billion employing around 500 000 persons directly and more than 2 million people indirectly The sector consists of 931 facilities including mining 54 facilities primary and secondary production of metals 464 and further transformation 413 Metals production is present in most EU member states with a large presence in Italy 179 facilities Germany 147 facilities Spain 116 facili ties France 82 facilities UK 53 facilities and P oland 51 facilities Figure 1 1 Figure 1 Distribution of the nonferrous metals industry across Europe Source Eurometaux 3 1 1 The nonferrous metals ecosystem The nonferrous metals sector forms a fascinating ecosystem over its value chain that con nects one way or the other the base precious specialty and alloys production to each other Most metal ores carry ne xt to the primary metals various other metals in smaller concen 1 Eurometaux trations These latter are when it is economically viable e xtracted during the metallurgical process of the primary or carrier metal including via recovery in slags or hydrometallurgi cal residues All base metals ores are carrier metals for a wide range of other basemet als precious and specialty metals as shown in fgure 2 Cobalt for instance is as a k ey byproduct of copper metallurgy 60 of cobalt production and nick el metallurgy 40 of cobalt production Figure 2 Nonferrous metals sector interlink ages I Source UNEP 2013 2 2 UNEP 2013 0 50 100 150 200 IS NO UK SE ES SI SK RO PT PL NL MT LU LT LV IT IE HU EL DE FR FI EE DK CZ CY HR BG BE 29 AT 20 20 2 12 20 44 82 116 147 179 2 2 2 25 51 17 20 24 53 26 4 10 9 3 9 1 1 Interconnected Carrier Metal C ycles Sulde and o xide ores Sulde ores Oxide ores Ga V Cl In Ir Ir Se Se Ru Ru Ni Bi Bi As As Rh Rh Te Te Co Co Co Cd In Ge Ga Os Os Ag Au Mo Pb Pd Pt Zn Ag Ag Ag Cu Au Pt Au Zn Pb PGM Cu Ni Sn Ti Mg Fe Mn Cr Zn Pb Al Sn Al Fe Mn Br B Ni Fe Cu Cr Li Zn Fe Ti Mn Al As V Cu Ti Cr Mg Mn Co Fe Al Cu Mg Fe Al V Mg Mn Fe Cu Hg Sb Ti Fe Hg Sb As Hg Cr Sb Fe Mg CaSi CaSi CaSi Pb Mg Ni As CaSi CaSi Sn Al Fe Cr Nb Zr Mg Ta Mn Zn W Cu As Sb Zn Bi Pb Nb Ta V Carrier metals bulk metals generally of lower value Coelements that have considerable own production infrastructure High economic value Some used in high tech applications Coelements that have no or limited dedicated production infrastructure Mainly highly valuable high tech metals e g essential in electronics Coelements that end up as residues or emissions Costly because of waste managment and endofpipe measures MET ALS IN A CLIMA TE NEUTRAL EUROPE A 2050 BL UEPRINT 20