Copper and the dark side of the energy transition | DW Documentary
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- The transition to green energy is crucial for the future health of the planet. But it requires vast amounts of copper. The growth in electric cars and renewable technologies in particular demand high volumes of the metal - which is often mined in South America, at a huge cost to the environment.
One of the most important raw materials for key technologies in the energy transition is copper. For years now, the metal’s price has been rising steadily, and has now reached unprecedented levels. Copper mines and copper production is a billion-dollar business. But what’s the impact on the climate?
Hamburg-based Aurubis is Europe’s largest copper producer. The company made more than 530 million Euros in pre-tax earnings in 2022. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, this was the best result in the company’s history. A global workforce of some 7,000 produce more than 1.2 million tons of copper. Aurubis derives the copper concentrates for its smelting furnaces from a range of countries. Chile is one of the biggest suppliers. Aurubis says it maintains high standards in the supply chains and points to a code of conduct that all cooperating companies must follow. Nevertheless, the mining process impacts negatively on local areas and communities.
The world’s largest open pit copper mine lies in the far north of the province of Chuquicamata. It’s located in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. The mine consumes vast volumes of water in an already arid location. People living in surrounding villages are now struggling with water shortages and water contaminated with heavy metals. One horrifying outcome is a cancer rate that’s up to six times higher than elsewhere in the country.
As the price of copper continues to go through the roof, there are those that say Germany should reopen its copper mines. It’s thought there could be 130 million tons of the metal in the Lusatia region. But can copper be mined in a way that’s kind to the environment? The answer to this question may be found in Canada. In the 1970s, the area surrounding the copper mines of Ontario was seen as the most polluted region in North America. But, following huge investment involving the introduction of modern technologies, Canada has succeeded in healing the landscape, planting new forests and getting pollutants out of the water supply. Copper is still mined here - these days in the greenest way possible. So, if clean copper mining is now an option, why is the Canadian example the exception to the rule?
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Regarding the mine workers, large companies love to rely on subcontractors because it puts responsibility for the workers’ health and benefits on the subcontractor. This happened at the U.S. chemical company I used to work for: it fired my very competent engineer friend in a “reduction in force”, and then she was offered a job at the subcontractor doing that type of work at the site. She pretty much had to take that job or leave the house she had built and all her relationships in the area to move for a similar job. Of course, starting at a new company in her 50’s, she was back to square one on vacation time and lost any possibility of a pension. And thereby the big employer saved itself from her salary, benefits, and retirement costs. I’m not at all surprised that this big Chilean copper company plans to reduce to 10% the number of its workers who it employs directly. The people are disposable. And they are trapped because they must support their families.
Sad story. Here in the Netherlands similar things are happening.
This happens a lot in my industry also, more and more the older experienced technicians and engineers are let go, or there raises are pretty much reduced to nothing; so they quit and are hired by contractors and come back to work for the company as "advisors" on an often part time basis, so no health benefits and their retirement payments are effective frozen in place. When I was hired I became part of the plan where after I retire I have no pension and I have to "transition" to medicare. Meanwhile my mother is still on my late father's pension and healthcare plan from when he retired in 1995, times have indeed changed.
That the true picture of the Evil Freemason Capitalist.
That's disgusting but sadly not uncommon. The sociopaths have taken over and have been busy.
These business practices simply need to be banned under law. A movement should start to make these kinds of tactics completely illegal. Why should they be allowed??? Workers deserve more protection than that.
When you're a high-skilled worker and that doesn't even guarantee you a financially comfortable future, something is extremely wrong.
Private large companies need heavy regulation. I don't think any of them have a conscience anymore if they ever did. Seeking extreme profit margins is all they care about. Even skilled workers become disposable to this end. They'll never do the right thing if left up to their devices, they must be forced to.
Thank you for sharing your perspective on this issue. I agree that it is unfair and unethical for large companies to exploit subcontractors and avoid responsibility for their workers’ health and benefits. This seems to be a common practice in copper mining, not only in Chile but also in other countries like DRC, where miners are paid very low wages and face harsh working conditions. Subcontractors are often hired to perform tasks that involve more risk and less protection, such as processing copper ores with chemicals or operating in remote areas with minimal environmental impact assessment. This creates a situation where the people who contribute most to the production of copper are also the most vulnerable and disposable. I think this is a serious problem that needs to be addressed by governments, companies, and consumers who benefit from copper products.
The fact that the German ministry for climate action would not even take an interview is the most telling. They would impose all types regulations on their own people which increase the cost of living, but don't recognize the detrimental effects it just shifts to poor countries around the world.
Because it's all a move to make huge amounts of money. Think of the billions in profits which would be lost if people decided not to move toward "green" energy. Too many German companies would not like that.
This!
❤
In Zambia (a large copper producer as well) , we often hold up Chile as a benchmark of ethical and sustainable copper production. This was very informative but really sad to watch as those challenges faced by the Chileans seam to be universal. The hypocrisy in the the electric automotive industry has always been infuriating. Even technologies like hydrogen require a lot of fossil fuels to produce economically. There needs to be a major shift in policy in ALL the energy sectors in order to achieve a genuine GREEN future. But unfortunately most of us don’t care how the pie is made.
This documentary is full of lies. The main cause of death is not cancer, the mortality rate is the lowest of the country and the life expectancy is the highest of the country. In the south of Chile without mining the infant rate is 50% higher and infant mortality rate is the same. Arsenic has been very high in the región for more than a 1,000 years. If what they claimed it was true, it would be a very different picture, but it's just easy refutable propaganda.
The fact that we don't know exactly what we need to do, to save the evironment. We fear that we just wasting money on something we can't do anything about. Nor do we want to return to the stone age. Which seems to be the only way to save the earth 🤣
@@chriscarrol9373 unfortunately that is the case. Im an engineer working in mining and have first experience of this. Granted mines in southern africa generally have better safety standards than those in central and western africa, but the environmental and societal protection is a joke. Right now we have numerous mining companies being sued in european courts because of long term health concerns of local populatio
@@AllrightNOR wealthy governments should be willing and brave enough to make a small number of extremely wealthy people very angry
@@AllrightNOR maybe not produce something we can control. the amount of people on this planet.
The documentary presents the relation between Codelco (the Chilean copper company) and Aurubis (the german buyer) as one where the germans can impose conditions. The truth is that Codelco, and copper in general, is not without buyers. If the germans don't want to buy the copper, the chinese will. And in the end, the germans will end up buying the copper products that the chinese manufacture, as everybody else.
As a side note, the documentary has focused on the state-owned copper company. If only you could've seen what foreign companies like Barrick Gold (Canada) and Outokumpu (finnish) have done to the environment when they were in charge of copper mines, both in Chile and elsewhere.
Not only copper, but this is the sad reality of most large businesses.
Here in Brazil, mostly in the states of Pará and Minas Gerais, we have these same issues regarding the impact of the mining activity. Again, the same thing: big businesses say they're environmently friendly, but in fact, they hide the true cost of their actions.
Love Canal near Niagara is one such place the government & big business tried to hide the dumping & cover up of waste chemicals 1974 & still trouble there & the people suffer
The Germans are practicing “not in my back yard” to the letter. As long as some countries let this occur, it will.
Cheers
Yeap. Very big & empty words vs very real & large clients' demand.
Thank you DW for another excellent documentary!
Thanks for watching and for your constructive feedback! :-)
For the true story of Dirty Copper (ethnic cleansing & 2 million tonnes per year stolen at Indonesian gun-point) see "United Nations and Global Betrayal"
It`s not excellent, it`s Eurocentric. The documentary wants you to feel outraged about the Chilean state company in contrast to the supposedly high environmental standards of Canada and Germany, but it says absolutely nothing about how mining corporations from Canada, the US, China, and the rest of Europe that are currently working in South America produce the very same labor exploitation and the same destruction of the land and health of the popultation as this Chilean company. Canada as a model? Don`t make me laugh! Check out their open pit mining corporations operating in South America. Only they are worse, because they take all the wealth to their countries and leave nothing behind save poverty and sickness. (At least a sate run company keeps some of the wealth) All this is called green neocolonialism.
@@DWDocumentary What was constructive?
@@DWDocumentary Stock prices,are expected to boom in the next 15 years because of copper prices going up.
I must say the storytelling in this documentary is superb. From the initial green and community "policies" being shared, to the actual dark reality for the people of Chile. Then to show us the hope and possibility of clean copper mining in Canada. Thank you DW for this excellent documentary
Canada is full of $hit , they are delivering bottled water to Native Peoples from mining that happened 100 yrs ago and the greedy are still destroying the $TOLEN LAND up here.
You still can mine cleanly. And the damage it does to the water table. And the chemicals use to extract minerals. And the damage explosives do to the integrity of the structure. It's a no win situation with ( so called green energy). Given that name for big business to exploit and make hundreds of trillions of dollars out of green energy.
@@hoppalong-er1xp Is copper mining worse than fracking?
Lmfao, this “documentary” is laughably deceptive in what it’s portraying. For example; the Union dude or w/e talking about the regions #1 cause of death being cancer, as if that’s due to the mining in some way. This statistic is hilarious to even be used, as cancer is generally the #1 cause of non natural deaths pretty much everywhere aside from heart disease which usually beats it. So in a smaller population cancer overtaking heart disease is not exactly shocking, since there’s a smaller sample size overall it’s highly likely, if not probable that cancer could overtake it if the region doesn’t have bad diet overall. Then them interviewing locals about how sometimes “they can’t even breathe at night” when they’re trying sleep etc, or “people dying all the time” from cancer again, it’s just locals trying to get some sort of financial compensation as usual. Whether or not there’s actually anything being caused by the mining lmao. It happens literally everywhere there’s any sort of large scale industrial work going on, so locals complain in the hopes of getting a free handout despite everyone ignoring the fact that that company is likely contributing an absurdly high amount of money to the local economy and country it’s in. It’s not even remotely worth in any respect to just shut down some operation that crucial to the economy because a couple people are complaining about a likely nonexistent problem lol. This mining is no worse than any other mining, that’s just how mining is. We’re pillaging the natural resources of the earth, it’s not going to be healthy for the environment lmfao. Overall this video was so pointless as it just covered something anyone with a brain already knows about. Cover something actually worth covering like why countries with so much money flowing into their economies are not investing it into infrastructure lmao. I’ll give you a hint, it’s all corruption. This is even more rampant in Africa, where locals and officials complain about large scale mining operations “pillaging” their lands and they get nothing out of it, despite those same officials just pocketing the actual money they should be investing into their countries infrastructure and progress overall. Hence why complaining about big mining companies hurting the environment in these places is laughable considering the real issue being why are these places still so poor most of the time with more money flowing into their local economies than most middle class neighborhoods in developed countries LOL.
@@bender0428I live in Chile, and I can confidently tell you that mining activity has been both life (money) and death (pollution) for us. There are several studies linking certain types of cancer to certain types of pollution, so I wouldn't so quiclky dismiss what the DW reported.
"it's not abput not working together, but to solve issues" - absolutely evaded the question, definitely part of the problem
26:01 Arsenic of 178 is pretty high, but you can't assume it's due to the copper mine. On a small island near me where there has never been any mining, one well water sample had 580μg/l!
This is why you don't go to Greenpeace for an unbiased analysis of water test samples.
Watching this is giving me chills
3:44 Whenever someone goes from talking like a human to sounding like a pre-recorded marketing executive, you know shenanigans are involved...
For those that dont know, copper is mined beside uranium; the result is the area around the mine & of course the mine itself is quite radioactive; especially when the refining is done on the surface
No the only uranium copper mine with enough uranium to extract is in australia and they have a full facility there for it. It seems traces of uranium is in some granite host rock but it doesnt seem to be enough or active enough to be dangerous. For example they are roasting the rocks and soaking them in acid to extract traces or u6+
Caught them with their pants down, good job! *Shows the water testing report, along with footage of the mining sites, guy just says "I wasn't there so I can't verify these things"* Things like this NEED to be addressed .. They preach go green but disregard human life to achieve it, and that needs to end
Yeah I wonder how that guy can confidently call himself "head of sustainability" what a joke. If he'd take his job seriously he would be either shocked or familiar with the issues and working to address them within the company.
Keep doing this kind of journalism. The world needs to understand that there's no such thing as "clean energy".
Net zero doesn't exist. What we need to do is keep co2 emittions
@@cxngo8124 *emissions
Just to be sure, we should *not* get hung up on word semantics and labeling so much. The danger of this thinking is it can be used by others as an excuse to keep running business as usual with fossil fuels. That said, there is *nothing* that humans do at industrial scales that does not have some impact on the environment.
Furthermore, citizens, investigative journalists, whistleblowers should always keep all companies in check even after we've transitioned to a fully renewable infrastructure. There will always be those that want to cut corners to save money and time.
Renewables are far far more clean than fossil fuels by allowing a circular economy that fossil fuels never have and never will. EVs eliminate all smog emissions right in the heart of our work and living neighborhoods. The amount of toxic chemicals spewed and nano-sized particulate matter (PM) spewed out of even the cleanest internal combustion engine's mufflers would shock most people if they knew -- let alone the dirtier combustion engine vehicles that are out there.
To name a few: nitrogen- and sulfur-oxides, benzene, and a host of other volatile hydrocarbons. Magnetized nano-sized PMs are fused particles of engine piston metal shavings with unburnt fuel are now found in the frontal cortex of urban humans and pets. Increasing evidence is showing it can lead to early onset dementia. This isn't even mention lung disease in very dense urban dwellers as some may be smoking a pack a day of smoke everyday without realizing it.
@@beyondfossil problem is climate change is not only co2. It's everything. Breaking boundaries on Netflix explains this well.
@@cxngo8124 I get it. But, in case you hadn't noticed, we are in a global carbon crisis right now. Atmospheric concentrations now exceeding 421ppm CO₂ which are levels not seen on Earth in millions of years all happening in the blink of eye (since the start of the Industrial Revolution).
Yes, there is also methane (CH₄) which is some 80X more potent than CO₂ at trapping infrared. But anthropogenic methane too can be reduced then eliminated by accelerating our transition to renewable and other non-carbon based energy sources. A lot of global methane is used to provide energy to power plants and warm homes. But the network of *millions* of miles of pipes involve leaks of pure methane into the atmosphere far greater than the biosphere can cycle through.
Sure there issues of pollution like the Pacific plastic patch that is an area twice the size of Texas. But climate change at the global scale is largely caused by human generate green house gases from fossil fuel usage -- pulling up carbon locked deep away from the biosphere from within the Earth's crust to be expelled into the atmosphere.
Burning a single gallon of gasoline emits and astonishing 20lbs of carbon dioxide! Multiply this by well over a billion combustion vehicles in operation out there today! If not all that carbon, all that toxic smog emitted right into our faces where we live, play and work.
We're outputting now over 34 *billion* metric tons of CO₂ each year. The number is slowly falling thanks to renewable technology but its still rising.
I agree, all avenues to get to a sustainable future need to be taken but, right now, the carbon crisis is urgent.
I re-iterate the caution needed when making such statements. I've been involved with and seen enough internet forum debates to know others will try to use such statements as an excuse continue using fossil fuels as usual but there are none. I'm not saying we need to do this tomorrow but, again the problem is urgent.
Thank you for holding companies accountable!
It would not hurt to also hold local government accountable.
Large companies avoid accountability and accept no responsibility out of the box. As, when and if government gets involved, only then do we see watered down action, often at tax payers expense.
The German employee of Aurubis interviewed said he could not assess the impact of the mining operation in Chile from photographs provided by DW, a German state organization. Given the nature of the allegations, surely Aurubis has an obligation to investigate and assess. But the Chilean government will be a difficult nut to crack if the claims are substantiated.
Poor people around the world are expendable.
Consumers need to take responsibility as well. It's all a market that has a supply and a demand. If we lower demand then the supply automatically drops.
@@Spiethstar As a very conscious vegan, I can say that relying on consumers to make better choices is a lost cause. Even if people know that what they're doing is horrible on every level, they choose their own personal gain over everyone else's.
Companies are as much accountable as they have (millions of) customers ready to pay for their products, along with government official ready to provide fuziness and cover for it?
What solution do we have beside taxing the non renewable raw materials and the unsustainable impacts their extraction has, rather than taxing people & labor like we've been doing for a couple centuries?
Thanks for showing this documentary, this is very informative. It’s just unbelievable that the Chilean government (Codelco) just kept silence regarding such an important matter for its own people.
Awesome documentary, good job DW. That's a topic often swept under the rug as the price we have to pay for the transition. The business hypocrisy is phenomenal.
Very Important Documentary 👏 Thanks To the DW Team and Chilean journalist.
Thanks for watching and for the feedback!
An excellent DW documentary channel always introduces interesting informative documentaries thanks for the sharing 👍🏻
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment:)
its fascinating how nothing changes for the better
Socking facts!!!
Many information. Very Thank you DW team, for their efforts.
Where Business, there no place for Human being and Environment.
As Sowell said, there are no solutions; only trade trade offs. There can never be a perfect world.
This isn't necessary at all though
Also consider that if it's not mining copper, it's mining coal etc. It's not like if we get away from EVs and photovoltaic we have no mines.
Lithium mines in South Africa 🌍
@@ginajones2328 Or coal mining anywhere, lots of heavy metals involved with coal mining. And you have to mine so much more. Coal mining is way worse than Lithium mines even setting aside the much higher volume of mining you have to do to get energy from coal verses having extra batteries to compliment renewables.
Ditto with oil verses anything needed for say a EV.
If two things have drawbacks then you choose the one with less drawbacks.
Besides the solution is to have less car centric cities, more trawleys and electric trains. Then you get the best of both worlds. Sure the individual instances will use a bit more copper, but overall less will be used because public transport is more efficient.
Also cities being less car centric means things are closer together thus less infrastructure is needed, which includes less power lines connecting houses.
Copper is also needed for wiring when using coal.
@@ginajones2328SA is one of many places it comes from.
Big respect for documenting this ! I never knew this CRAZY
Very interesting program .Is so sad to see people suffering from this situation, especially from there's health 😢
Mostly nickel mines in Sudbury copper was secondary product of a lot of the mines there
This is an important discussion. There is a lot of illusion about the ecological industrial revolution and the green energy transition. The expression "ecologically sustainable" has become a kind of postmodern philosopher's stone. There is no industrial process that does not destroy nature or lead to the disposal of toxic waste. Raw material mines (all of them) are immense wounds in nature. The regions where some of these mines are located CANNOT be reforested and the speed with which these wounds are opened on the planet increases exponentially as a result of the new machines invented and built by man. We are trapped in a civilizational trap. Any way out we invent or try only worsens our chances of survival in the future. Businesses are profitable because they destroy nature and they will continue to dominate the political arena until the whole system collapses. I am not a pessimist, but I prefer not to unthinkingly subscribe to energy transition myths created by ecologists who look more like alchemists than scientists. This DW documentary is very good and was made at the right time.
This needs to be pinned or up 🔝
Maybe we should return to horse & wagon and burning wood ? Catch-22
What you said was accurately truth matter.
Thanks for this great reply.
I don't want to peddle hopium but all I can say is I know we can find the solutions to these problems. We just have to keep working until we do. Every problem carries with it the seed of a solution.
Forcing strict compliance by all companies, private or State-run, is the first step.
We can't turn back the clock. All we can do is decide that human welfare, workers, and our communities matter MORE than corporate profit. If we have to extract for the time being, then the most ethical working standards and the least environmentally damaging methods must be enforced. Then, hopefully, we can manage or regenerate any environmental damage sustained during operation of each plant.
Sounds like open pit mining could stand to be banned, although that alone isn't enough to mitigate all of mining's impacts.
I hear the "Four Horseman" galloping my way.
Take care,
Good job for another insight to this dw documentary!
The HD quality of the documentary was good. The reporting was on topic without any biases. Interesting content. Keep it up DW.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. Be sure to check out our channel for more content.
Has there ever been a single instance of a large resource extraction company, extracting resources responsibly, without being forced to?
Seriously, I'd like to know...
you already know...
Good job, Fraz 😉
Liked the no frills, in depth review from someone with hands-on experience!
Awesome reporting, thank you so much for showing this. It is crazy how people thinking they are helping the environment have little understanding or knowledge or want to research they are trading one bad thing for another. Seems it is only about money, corporations, and their shareholders keeping themselves wealthy.
We certainly love to export pollution.
We can't mine our copper because it would destroy our environment so we have it mined somewhere else where it destroys the environment even more.
Almost nobody lives in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Thousends of jobs created, and we all have agreed on energy transition. Only local governments can mitigate uneccessary enviromental damage. There is the focus point. There have never been natural resource exploitation without pollution, The only question is : How bad.
@@Funkywallot one solution is to tax products that are not mined by the same environmental standards the importing country would apply.
.... same for work conditions and safety.
It's the pretending to be green that I have a problem with. When importing goods the co2 released should be added to the importing country's balance sheet and not the exporting.
@@chriscarrol9373 mining can be done in a fairly contained way. It's just soooo much more expensive.
Here in Australia they even say that about coal! And they have been claiming that our coal is cleaner than elsewhere..They got busted doctoring the lab reports about how much ash content was in it. Also they under report emissions of methane during mining.
@@CHMichael Its one solution perhaps. But, not realistic. The foreign importing nations have no juristiction to monitor if this extra taxation is targeted exactly as intented, surely there must be a better solution ?
DW documentary is a fantastic CZcams channel 👏🏼
Thanks for the positive feedback :)
I find it ironic that I watched this on a device that consists of copper the documentary was put together and distributed using devices made with copper, the documentary points fingers but fails to offer possible mitigation solutions to balance world demand , jobs, safety, etc
Quote: "Despite the disadvantages of copper, I will still choose renewable energy"
Disadvantages, in general, so far only for third world countries, right? Business will choose profit over people's health, especially if these are colonies.
"Many will die but its a sacrifice I am willing to make" -Lord Farquaad
This is basically how it always goes. Corporations treat other people in other countries like shit, locals are scared because it's their only job and because their own governments turn a blind eye, only "troublesome" activist types will honestly and openly address the problems, and the companies either won't talk or else get out their arsenal of bland, vague statements that mean nothing.
That the example of economic imperialism.
The storytelling person speak each person/laces with each local language accent. That's what i look forward. Great job DW having such wonderful person.
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!
UNREAL documentary - ELITE film-making • TOP-NOTCH video-production - DW Documentary is -by far, No. 1
Thanks for watching and sharing your positive feedback:)
Great journalism feel so refreshing👍👍
On the american side here in Arizona.. they're actively throwing away copper in many forms from the major housing development projects that are in progress around the Phoenix valley.. about two hours to the east there is sacred indigenous land being sought for the copper deposit within, maybe the same mining company? Not sure if they have begun mining yet.
lol that is some really dumb nihilistic thinking. I live in Florida and I will drive all the way to Arizona to pick up that copper as it is worth more than enough for the trip. The value of copper is so high that drug addicts are killing themselves just to rip copper wiring out of the walls and even on transformers. That demand isn't ever going to decrease either. If you just look at the copper needed for basic infrastructure in JUST the USA, they need many times more then they currently have just to wire up everyone's internet. Huge sections of the USA still rely on dialup, satellite, and cellular internet because there is hundreds of thousands of miles of cable still needed. We're not even talking small town areas in the middle of the USA, even in FLORIDA there is areas without cable internet.
That is so sad man. We HAVE to have thee highest standards when it comes to taking care of our land and not polluting as much. We're the freaking United States :(
Nobody is 'throwing away' copper in any quantity. Proof?
@@EdJohnson-fz5es When they renovate some contractors do dispose of copper in many forms, but some sort it out.
@@02markcal When houses are torn down to construct new, the copper is removed before demolition starts. There aren't any contractors throwing away copper. All a contractor has to do is pick up the phone to get a scrap company in. Then the contractor has to cash the check they give him.
Excellent documentary. I have been looking for the problems of copper mining and processing for some time now. This has met all my requirements.
Thanks for watching, Premnath. We're glad to know the documentary was helpful!
I have somewhere else for you to investigate. Copper mining in Bougainville
So you walk and don't drive and pollute air
Don't use AC as it has copper
Onnu podo
@@anilp that is absolutely correct. I actually use a bicycle.
@@anilp absolutely correct. I don't use ac too.
Thanks DW for such an awesome and eye opening video. Love from India 🙏
I don't care about the future..
I feel lucky to live right now !
I love copper ❤
This is a really important documentary. Atleast the questions asked are very important.
The transition to electric and the reason of decreasing carbon emissions seems like it's too simplistic of a solution but is very profitable for the few who are marketing it.
Also, the trade offs are not always fully disclosed or discussed. Like a new security layer that requires more information from the public that is used by third parties or this "public private partnership" that's advertised.
❤
Thanks DW for this documentary.
Calama, Chile reminds me of Globe - Superior, Arizona, USA...but on a much larger scale. The amount of environmental damage to the area with poverty abound was eye opening to see in the US. Chile's future doesn't look too bright if the status quo continues.
@@remy5405 If you are walking down at midnight anywhere, you are the prime suspect for a whole slew of crimes.
@@remy5405 You haven't been "everywhere in America" have you?
Also please make a video on how tiny European countries with little population very high Energy consumption per capita still lectures huge countries with very high population and low per capita consumption to fight climate change because as a country their Carbon emission is high but can't change their habits.
The global commodities supercycle and its discontents, as revealed through a certain reddish, ductile metal.
2:25 Hamburg, Germany. 🏭
├24:35 Public relations talk.
30:20 Potential sources in Germany. 🪨
5:00 Callama, Chile. ⛏
├12:55 Water pollution. 🚱
├19:05 Lax limits and enforcement.
21:41 Antofagasta, Chile. 🚢🌇🏥
36:30 Sudbury, Canada. 🏭🌲
I'm curious what the environmental impact of steel producing is by comparison. Since steel is mined to build conduits to transport hydrocarbons as copper is mined to build conduits and generators of electricity.
Lol, good luck to DW trying film it in Russia and China "the big dumpers of iron of the world" 😂
There isn't a perfect way.
No offense intended, but DW Documentary is a great source for existential dread. Today, I experienced "copper shame" for the first time. 😢
It's as if no matter what I do to avoid contributing to the world's problems, DW Documentary has an almost magical way of pointing out how the most insignificant action or choice I make in my daily life is hurting someone on the planet.
It's enough to make me want to spend my life cut off from the world by living in a cardboard box. But, I'm sure there's eventually going to be a DW documentary titled "Shame in a Box: the Tragic Legacy of Living in a Cardboard Box."
Best wishes from Vermont! ❄️💙❄️
I don't think I've ever made it through a few minutes of a DW documentary because of the relentless passive-aggressive nagging.
East Palestine go live in a cardboard box and get you a Ben & Jerry’s with a cardboard spoon GTFOH☠️
And the inventions of free energy devises are 'not allowed to mass produce' so individual households can move into the True clean energy future. Tesla did not have this type of civ ilization in mind
@@xyzct I'm pretty sure there's a DW Documentary on that. I think it was titled "The Dark Side of Avoiding Relentless Passive-Agressive Nagging."
@@TheStockwell It makes you really appreciate living in New England, as opposed to South America, Asia or Africa. Or California.
We still don't produce nearly enough copper to make the transition. That and many other materials need as least 10X the production we get now.
We need to change materials not make more of the same wasteful ones its not hard to figure out
Yet another great documentary from dw
The clean-up in Canada looked impressive, but it reminded me of an old Time Team episode in Swansea, UK, excavating old copper mining operations from the industrial revolution. The area now appears idyllic, but the soil is still heavily contaminated.
Government is main reason behind Chile’s pollution not the company. When you leave politicians in charge you will almost always have disastrous effects.
Thanks DW for bringing to us such an excellent documentary. I hope South American Governments learn from Canada how to run eco friendly mines instead of drying centuries old rivers & killing their own citizens by polluting the atmosphere & lakes.
They won't do anything. How can you expect companies who fail to provide simple things such as respirators and safety suits to care for the environment
Canadian companies in other countries have been among the worst offenders
It is almost a sure thing if a company has offshore operations in a poorer country there will be bad business practices and exploitation of the workers, residents, and environment of the country. Greed is a strong deadly sin.
the main impetus for globalization
Great documentary. Keep up the good work
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment :)
I’m worried about what will happen to these people after they speak out. There should be a follow up addendum.
It would have been interesting if this documentary also featured Mes Aynak, an ancient site in Afghanistan - archeologically comparable to Pompei and Machu Picchu - that sits on a vast copper ore deposit believed to be worth tens of billions of dollars.
It should be in China's hands now. Taliban need the money after US froze tbe Afghan assets.
Do you think after we destroy that piece of history that we'd finally have enough to continue on this futile and destructive path? 10s of billions in copper? Who gives a fuck did you not watch the same documentary as the rest of us or did you watch it with your ears plugged and a blindfold on??
We need to clean up our act.
Excellent documentary!
Thank you for this.
Sudbury had far more than just copper mining. At one point, there were silver veins running just a few meters bellow the surface. The land was stiped to access that silver. That happened long before environmental regulations were a thing. Sudbury looks green up close, but if you go just a little higher, you start seeing just how widespread the effects of mining are. The lakes all have that orange tint which is typical of iron.
Does Sudbury still have that big nickel statue ? I wonder about all the environmental effects from all the gold mining in the Timmins area as well ?
@@rscott2247 I don't live anywhere near there, but a quick Google search seems to indicate that it is still there.
Its green but the heavy metals are probably in the soil, its going to take more than a few trees and 50 years to completely restore Sudbury, I'd say around 150 to 200 years maybe to consider Sudbury back to normal
One of the best documentaries on our planet! Well done! I hope that in Australia they abide by the environmental regulations!
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment :)
Amazing video !
Just one thing: We NEED copper for the CONTACT WIRE of Oberleitung or trollezbus wire and catenarz wire as well!
Being in the UK when it stated dirty copper I had been expecting corrupt police post 😁
There are millions of that type worldwide
"Dirty Copper"
'Corrupt police officer' came to mind. Unintended pun/double entendre with the title? (Regardless, it made me chuckle).
I laughed too
Great Documentary DW!
Thanks for watching:)
THANKS FOR AN EXCELLENT DW DOCU. Next: ZAMBIA. - its copper industry and the impact on the population and on the environment. Thank you.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. Be sure to check out our channel for more content.
@@DWDocumentary : My loyalty to the channel is intact. Once again, THANK YOU!
Excellent research and presentation!👍 There is a similar situation unfolding with lithium and cobalt. Many people who feel like they are doing the right thing here in the US supporting clean energy are completely BLIND to what they are actually supporting and propagating. As long as they get to tell their neighbors, the less fortunate, and social media how much good they are doing for the world to bolster their own hubris. Lithium mining is picking up BIG TIME here in Nevada, and though it's done ethically and often through union work here in the US, the irony isn't lost to me on these folks who refuse to allow oil gas or infrastructure to be built anywhere because it is theoretically ruining traditional native lands, yet they let foreign owned solar companies, windfarms, and "green lithium mining" to desecrate every part of the desert while cheering it all on. This has all gone backwards... we need fusion, desalination, and sodium ion cell technology not all this forced archaic tech.
Thank you DW for producing this great informative documentary and holding the companies accountable.
Thanks for watching and for the feedback!
I live an hour south of Sudbury. You can eat the fish in the lakes and everything grows well here. Pretty nice place to live. Cheers
Great investigative piece well done
This is just the consequences of 1 mineral being mined. Lithium, Cobalt, Gold, and Silver can be done ethically, unfortunately its so much more lucrative to pollute and abandon the site.
When will the show about the kids mining cobalt for the car batteries in the Congo be coming?
I saw one video on children and Cobalt mines.... awful. Disgusting
@@ginajones2328 It's not much worse then drilling for oil in Africa.
Or the oil drilling pollution in Africa.
Super effort ! This documentary is a gold standard and eye opener open cast mining. India in Eastern part is almost similar due to coal mining….
Excellent. I spent the entire duration of that programme stripping copper wire out of household electrical cable I found in a skip. Once a year or so I take many tens of kilos of 'dry bright' into a metal merchant for recycling back into industry. But I get that the amount recycled isn't enough to match the demand.
The green dreamers and tyrants never talk about the green nightmares. Environmental damage, pollution, poisoning, child labor, slave labor, etc. They also never point out it looks
like there are not enough resources available to accomplish the green dream.
That's why you should invest in copper.
I recycle hundreds of pounds of copper. It's important
Amazing documentary
Civilization is wired with copper and it's not stopping.
If i may be so bold as to ask a question....if you ask someone who is complaining about all the pollution etc,to give up the tech they live with eg:cell phone tv aircon a fridge computer the list goes on!they will in my oppion say no ways.what i feel i must say here is yes i agree the damage and pollution is bad but we need to face reality ppl. there is no such thing as clean mining. i bet you that in 1000 years it will still be a devasting operation no matter where it happens. i feel bad for all the locals that are suffering in chile. but im not better off as a south african i assure you that our mining standard is no better. as a species the human race must wake up and make a choice.....do we wish to live a long natural clean life in paradise living in trees etc....Or do we live a short life most likely to die a horrible death cancer lung issues etc in a techno heaven where everything is automated and easy?
we should get rid of useless automation. For example not everyone needs a car. Only people living in rural areas like farmers need one. Not everyone needs an AC. People live in the desert without AC's yet people in Canada cry for one at 26 degrees. Private jets should only be reserved for presidents . Boats for fisherman etc. There are many things we can get rid of but still keep progressing. Automation should be circumstance based. This may not be what some want but it is the reality.
We can have good environmental protection, but that will cost money. The problem is then who should pay it. Maybe income inequality fucks most people over harder than they think.
Volcanos BLOW the Planet apart. The Planet is STILL HERE despite all the Toxins released.
@@trueelectsupremea.m.mosttr4786 yeah and look at all the damage they have done before humans.
@@cxngo8124
The WHOLE PLANET during Earth's formation WAS LARGE BLOB OF MOLTEN ELEMENTS, and out of that, meteorites, and everything else the planet is still in existence.
The idea mines pollute is SO LUDICROUS. The "damage" if you can even call it that is SO short term. I see fissures open all the time from faults and earthquakes. Life seems to grab those up very quickly.
It's almost all bullshit.
Obviously radioactive ☢️ waste in the atmosphere and Oceans IS A REAL PROBLEM. That's never discussed. Certain other materials also belong in that category, like PCP's.
Always poor countries, poor people suffers and rich countries billioners adds another million dollars to their bank accounts by disregarding humans lives. However, this programmes"s reporter" s search was so well done and therefore I have to say "well done to you. sir. Somehow reporter has not only given us the nightmare like facts but he has shown us Canada "s example of regenerating the area . ,,,so we can all see it can be done...You have made the German firm be aware of Chile government's disregard for humans lives whilst mining the copper so hopefully German firm will not buy their staff unless the working. conditions reaches Canada or Germany's high standards ...hopefully
Well done? This documentary is full of lies, just verify everything that they say and you will see, it's all easy verifiable.
Fact check: KGHM Polska is the largest copper producer in Europe and one of largest in the world. It has around 7-8 billion EUR revenue per year at the moment.
DW the demand for copper has risen from day one. Even if you don't make EVs. In addition the alternative are already responsible for environmental damage many times worse. In addition there are very good replacements for the huge amount of copper used for decorative plumbing etc. Restrict use to electrification. Finally very little research has gone into wiring. We're using 150 year old technology.
The replacements for copper in plumbing are all made from natural gas.
@@gregorymalchuk272 Shhh, you don't want the greenies to know that copper pipes in the home have been replaced with plastic. They will want water pipes made from hemp!
No copper was used to film this documentary I imagine... Cameras made from wood and cotton
Get lost
And you are serious.
Deutsch Welle gute arbeit.. 👍
Greed! Greed!!Greed!!!!! These companies don't care about the people! Or the land! Truly upsetting!!!
Tony Soprano didn't die, he just became an ecologist for DW...
The thumbnail title sounds like something you yell at your partner after they betray you because the mob boss paying him off ordered them to.
One little detail, are you aware that by showing the door of the miner's house you are pretty much giving him away?
Excellent documentary. Frightening!!!
There is no such thing as clean energy
Money is the root of all evil in the world, corporations will do anything to make a buck
There is a large Copper mine planned to reopen in Papua New Guinea under the operator Rio Tinto called Bougainville Copper Mine. Back in the 1970s-1990s the pollution from the mine led to the traditional landowners rising up against the mine and government, effectively leading to a bloody civil war. The world will remember that the copper mine was at one time the largest mine in the world. There is fear among the people in PNG that this mine will open old wounds again and cause more conflict then solve our economic woes.
You are so wrong it was that the tribal owners of the mine site got into conflict with the National government over the payments made by the mine to the government. As the National government is on the other side of a different island they did care for the tribal owners.
So just how much more copper is in this mine? Is it running out or going for another 100 years?
So your new, latest version of apple phone, your tesla, your electronics are nullifying your minor attempt at recycling & composting. Humanity is the worst thing that Ever happened to Earth.