To: TobagoJack who wrote (216298 ) 9/3/2025 1:47:46 AM From: Maple MAGA 1 RecommendationRecommended By
Respond to From ChatGPT: question is sensible and widely acknowledged in mining and resource policy circles. It states that if mines recovered even a small percentage of “by-product” minerals (things like germanium, gallium, vanadium, REEs that occur alongside copper, zinc, or coal), U.S. dependence on foreign suppliers would fall dramatically. The explanation given is correct: Mines are optimized for the main payable metals. By-products are often at very low concentrations. Capturing them requires additional circuits, chemical processes, and energy. The capital cost is “modest” compared to building a new mine — but without an immediate payoff, there’s no incentive. answer in the post puts almost the entire blame on Mark Carney and ESG/green finance for the lack of by-product recovery. That’s where it veers into exaggeration: Partial truth: ESG and “green finance” frameworks do steer capital toward certain optics (renewables, carbon credits) rather than industrial by-product recovery. There is a kernel of reality that investors often punish deviations from short-term returns, and ESG scoring hasn’t historically rewarded critical-mineral innovation. Overreach: The answer implies that by-product recovery isn’t happening at scale in Canada or the U.S. because of Carney’s personal influence. That’s a stretch. The real bottlenecks are: Technical complexity of separating trace minerals. Market volatility (e.g. gallium demand spikes, then collapses). Lack of secure long-term offtake contracts to justify investment. Regulatory red tape, permitting timelines, and environmental liabilities. Lack of coordinated industrial policy (in both Canada and the U.S.) to make it worthwhile. Absurd angle: Suggesting that the financial system was deliberately engineered to stop miners from extracting vanadium or gallium is conspiratorial. The truth is more mundane: miners chase the quickest profit, and unless government policy changes the incentives, by-product recovery remains uneconomic. The Question: Not absurd — it’s realistic, accurate, and well-framed. The Answer: Contains a thread of truth (ESG doesn’t reward by-product recovery), but it’s exaggerated to the point of being absurdly one-sided . It personalizes a complex, multi-factor industrial/economic issue into a single villain (Mark Carney), which oversimplifies reality.
