The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives

by Ernest Scheyder

Acclaimed Reuters reporter Ernest Scheyder reveals the trillion-dollar battle for the resources to power our future.

Tough choices loom if the world wants to go green. The United States and other countries must decide where and how to procure the materials that make our renewable energy economy possible. To build electric vehicles, solar panels, cell phones, and millions of other devices means the world must dig more mines to extract lithium, copper, cobalt, rare earths, and nickel. But mines are deeply unpopular, even as they have a role to play in fighting climate change. These tensions have sparked a worldwide reckoning over the sourcing of these critical minerals, and no one understands the complexities of these issues better than Ernest Scheyder, whose exclusive access has allowed him to report from the front lines on the key players in this global battle to power our future.

This is not a story of tree-hugging activists, but rather of industry titans, scientists, and policymakers jostling over how best to save the planet. Scheyder explores how a proposed lithium mine in Nevada would help global automakers slash their dependance on fossil fuels, but developing that mine could cause the extinction of a flower found nowhere else on the planet. A hedge fund manager’s attempt to resuscitate rare earths mining in California relies on Chinese expertise, exposing the paradox in Washington’s quest for minerals independence. The fight to end child labor in Africa’s mining sector is a key reason, supporters contend, to dig out a vast reserve of cobalt and nickel under Minnesota’s vulnerable wetlands. An international mining conglomerate’s plan to extract copper for electric vehicles deep beneath Arizona’s desert would destroy a Native American holy site, fueling tough questions about what matters more.

In The War Below , Scheyder crafts a business story that matters to everyone. If China continues to dominate production of these critical minerals, it will have a profound impact on the geopolitical order. Beyond China, countries such as Bolivia, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo aim to wield their vast reserves of key minerals. There are no easy answers when it comes to energy. Scheyder paints a powerfully honest and nuanced picture of what is needed to fight climate change and secure energy independence, revealing how America and the rest of the world’s hunt for the “new oil” directly affects us all.

Genres: Nonfiction, Economics, Science, Politics, Business, Environment, Technology

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 30, 2024

Reviews

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why won't the US permit mines, given the wealth of rare earths crucial to the climate transition it's sitting on? Scheyder opens the book with a blast: tailings dams failures. When rare earth minerals are mined via open-pit mines, a vast quantity of waste sludge is generated in the form of crushed rock, acidic chemicals, coolant and so on. These 'tailings' are locked up behind dams, where they're supposed to stay. However, so far man's reach has exceeded his grasp, the dams failing up to the current day, oftentimes with lethal consequences — over 200 workers lost their lives in Brazil when the Brumadinho dam collapsed near the mess hall.

Sadly, the book is itself kind of a tailings dam failure. Scheyder — Reuters journo working the fracking revolution, today on the critical materials beat — spoke to everyone connected to land management, lithium processing, nature conservation and energy research in the US and decided to turn it into a book. You'd think all that quarrying nets him a nice chunk of data ready for processing, but The War Below reads like an accumulation of impressions splurged together, not an structured inquiry into industrial development. There's heaps of interesting characters, from federal execs to CEOs with silica chips on their shoulders and activists with a greener world in their eyes, but few venture beyond uttering a "woah" at the evident standstill.

A pioneer gets turned down by the Morales government in Bolivia, for unclear reasons, with unclear implications. A rare flower is threatened, a farming household refuses to sell their land, industrialists gnash teeth when the umpteenth mining permit gets rejected. But who exactly is organizing this bipartisan blockade of America's tomorrow is kept vague — Scheyder alludes to the human and environmental cost scaring off local decision makers, but why did that not impede fracking, a process which habitually generates local earthquakes, leaks toxic matter and poisons waters? Who is fighting this war?

Scheyder suggests this all comes down to weak governance refusing to pick sides, Republican congressmen being as attached to their Alaskan fishing waters as Democrats are to the Native American tribes in their bloc. But is that all there is to it? Is Chile's government, which devotes 60% of its entire water usage to mining, so much more hard-nosed, beholden to capital or climate-conscious than Washington? The international comparison to Europe, China and Australia lurks behind the corner but is never confronted, being waved away with "you don't trust *them* to care about the environment, right?". Scheyder's case for the US gov to put climate before local environment is clear and not unconvincing, but I remain very skeptical that's all there is to it.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The mines opposed by the environmental lobby in the near term are, paradoxically, necessary to battle climate change in the long term,…Recycling alone cannot provide the materials needed to fuel the global green energy transition." ♻️

Whew what a corner we’ve backed ourselves into with this one. Pick up if you like journalist turned author book style writing.

The United States sure likes our brand new electronics and likes to not think too hard about how they are made or to do the dirty work ourselves.

Classical NIMBY

Everyone stop upgrading your phones every year. Learn how cobalt is mined (hint: children 🧒) and learn how to recycle your electronics & where to drop them off.

[Sebastian Gebski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not 100% what I expected.

I hoped for an in-depth geo-econo-politic analysis, step-by-step analysis dissected into subtopics, well places in the context of the forthgoing de-globalisation. And yes, I got a bit of that, that for the big part of the book, the author's focus shifted into ecology, local society posture (typically: against mining), and the paradox: to go clean you need to industrialize more.

I'm not saying these topics are not important - sure they are! In fact, that's why, in some cases, certain initiatives have been blocked/canceled. But I expected more solutions - what are governments doing to tackle this issue, or what could they have been doing?

The book feels a bit chaotic, and that's probably why I missed a good global overview - how do we look alike number-wise? Let's see the trends, which elements of the supply chain are the major issue now, and what the potential ways out are. Or, in other words, who has the REAL potential to checkmate other players? I got some pieces of this puzzle (& in sufficient detail) - take the chapter on Bolivia - but I missed having that information organized in a proper, actionable way.

It's a super important topic. It's great that there are books that tackle it in detail, but The War Below could have been much better.

P.S. The chapter on how presidential candidates in US b*llshit American Indian communities "selling them" any story that would increase their support (even totally contradicting stories) nearly made me puke.

[Simms · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting overview of the current complex state of mining lithium, copper, cobalt (and maybe other minerals I can't remember) important to making a "green energy" transition. I particularly liked, for lack of a better word, the nuanced chapters discussing the conflicts between mining and environmentalists (which usually boil down to "yes yes we need to mine these metals to help reduce climate change, but do we need to mine them RIGHT HERE?"). It's not like Scheyder provides a solution to the impasse (for how could he) but it's awfully thought-provoking.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

[Adrian Landstedt · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a geologist in the mining industry, I regularly hear and read about stalled projects and mines in the US, but news articles (when you can find them) rarely go into details past what the general reason for the stall which is usually one of:

1) Indigenous/tribal folks with a current or past special relationship with the land.

2) Environmentalists and environmentally minded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) determined to follow global cleaner climate initiatives so long as the mines which make that happen aren’t “in their backyard”.

3) The ever changing presidential cycle in which one leader approves and pushes forward a mine, then departs office and the next leader rescinds everything that was passed.

In The War Below we are treated to a journalist’s telling of the story, in which every side is captured so that everyone from the mining company, to the locals, to the environmentalists and the government and indigenous all get to tell their story and the reader gets to learn and decide whom they stand with on a variety of projects. The fact is, the US does not produce enough lithium, copper, cobalt, rare earth elements and other metals that both fuel the green energy transition and are critical to the country’s future development. The reason it doesn’t?

In Nevada, an endangered flower that only grows on lithium-boron rich soil, the failure of an American company to meet deadlines causing the sale of a large domestic reserve of lithium to a Chinese conglomerate and ancient indigenous land paired with a group of anti-mining environmentalists. In Arizona and Alaska, two of the largest copper deposits in the US can’t open due to political friction, preservation of salmon fishing and ancient indigenous religious grounds. In Minnesota and Idaho, past failures and poisoning of lakes and forests from acid mine drainage therefore poisoning communities attitude to mining.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the stories that were told, and I hope that those who are unfamiliar with how crucial mining is to every part of our daily lives will give this book a try.

[Eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

a broad overview of the urgency of rare earths for the green energy transition and a nuanced discussion about where we get them, how we do that, and the political disconnect.

[Grzegorz Krochmal · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s a coffee chat book. I expected a detailed analysis of the mining industry with its challenges, geopolitical implications and all the aspects which are critical for energy transition and mining’s role in it.
What you get with this book is US-centric tale with a lot of random details, e.g a story of some lawyer in Minnesota whose dad was an owner of a clothing shop and then we get into this woman’s perspective of mining industry and her fight against it. I mean - who cares?

If you want to read a book on why some people think mining in their area in US is desirable, and the others think opposite - then go for it. If you want to understand the complex landscape of modern mining and rare metals - don’t waste your time

[Martina Kernosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be extremely informative, immediately immersing me in the worlds of mining and manufacturing that I knew nothing about. While a topic like this could easily become daunting for readers outside the field, The War Below successfully educated me on the processes involved in the mining and battery industry that I needed to understand to make sense of this situation.

Something I really enjoyed about this book is that it brought me so much clarity regarding the technologies I depend on every day. The book itself details that it is difficult to track down where exactly out materials come from, but I certainly know a lot more than I did. Knowing where and what processes the lithium, copper, cobalt, and rare earths that make up the tools in my life helps ease anxieties I held about the unknown of it all. Knowing the truth, as hard as it can be sometimes, allows me to understand the impact of my choices and lifestyle, and provides me the opportunity to change to better align with my values.

Further Personal Reflection—————————————

The extractive economy is no where near ceasing its destruction. But, after reading this book, I feel hopeful about aspects of the mining industry.

Before, my default stance would always be to oppose a mine. They have an indisputably negative impact on their environments and their creation is result of the endless consumption of our society. Living in Pennsylvania, close to Appalachians, I have seen mines take everything from a community and then just simply move on to take from another. The pursuit of coal is insatiable. People burn it, and then they need more, and they will always need more. Coal, oil, gas, they’re all finite, to depend on them means you must always be on the hunt for more. We know we can’t live this way forever, so why would I support another mine, another place to take from the earth?

Now, I know that not all mines are created equal. What I’ve taken from this book is that the hunger for lithium could be satisfied - but reaching that point has a lot more to do with how we choose to live, than the technology available. When out society reflects an understanding that we have finite resources in this world, that just because something is “green” does not allow us to consume recklessly. One example I have in mind is cars. Throughout the book, lithium’s relationship to EV batteries was prominent, being toted as an essential to green infrastructure

[Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant reporting on the current state of obtaining minerals needed for the green transition domestically for the US. Much is covered here from the smaller individual stories to the larger picture of the many challenges that we'll face. Though not seemingly intentional, Scheyder does not demonize the mining industry (one need only read ‘The World for Sale’ by Javier Blas to get a sense of those corporate titans and what they are like) nor does he downplay even the more minute issues. Often it does seem like the US has turned into the land of NIMBY’s, unable to change the way it does things or trust in rules based and sustainable approaches to responsibly extract these resources and would prefer other nations bearing the burden and reaping the rewards. Whether Tiehm’s Buckwheat is of so vital importance versus weaning ourselves off hydrocarbons for transport is a difficult question, but when you hear people quoted in the book as saying “We’re so much greener than most other people…and we’re not opposed to Lithium, we just want it someplace else” you have to wonder if we’re ever going to make any meaningful progress.

[Eric Rietveld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are there no good guys? Can mining companies mine well? Do environmentalist have any business opposing mines that will fuel the new green economy? Is there any point in saving a flower if the planet is going to get so hot it'll die anyway? There are no easy questions to the answers presented by the book, and that's, in part, one of the many reasons you should read this. If we're going to truly commit to a green revolution, answers to hard questions will be needed, the most pressing of which is can America afford-strategically, economically, and perhaps existentially-to continue pushing off mining onto other countries? You won't find answers here, but you'll find an excellent groundwork from which to start thinking.

[Kelsey Baguinat · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25⭐️

[Matthew Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed in-depth reporting on the difficulties in resolving local environmental concerns and the global rush for ‘green’ minerals. Though mostly concerned with American mining, the issues it raises are also relevant to other countries as the Fourth Industrial Revolution gets underway.

[Mallory Franzen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting and important read. We in the west love our shiny new electronics and wax poetic about a green energy transition, but don’t want open pit mines in our backyard, offshoring them to other parts of the world. I was naive to the competing interests and tradeoffs with the green energy transition, and am grateful to now have a baseline…

[Livia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice in-depth book of how and why the mining industry is fucked up. We aren't ready for a sustainable energy transition yet

[Leonardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to thank NetGalley and the Author for giving me the opportunity to review this ARC.

As the world moves towards a future of hydrocarbon energy alternatives, we find ourselves needing much more key and rare elements to manufacture the components and technologies that will fuel that change. Such products include electric vehicles and solar panels. In way, this book provides a well research and presented view into the societal, political, environmental, and technological hurdles the world faces.

The author's writing style is very clear and easy to understand. It drew me into the story.

It's definitely a challenging conundrum and choice we are facing in the trade off between environmental destruction and climate change fighting.

[Jed Aicher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Punchy and informative.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t read the description before starting this, only the title. Boy was I way off. I thought this was going to be a geopolitical drama about the world’s superpowers facing off in an economic and innovative battle to gain control of the world’s critical minerals.

Instead it was a recent history of the various grievances from “environmental” groups, Indian tribes, and raging leftists over critical minerals mining. Very liberal read.

Solidified for me how stupid the climate change debate is. The same people complaining about carbon emissions are the same ones throwing a hissy fit about mining the very minerals critical to their green energy transition plans.

There are plenty of rational actors among those actually trying to mine the minerals and keep getting stifled by nonsense. The people opposing them are annoying. Half of this book was about how they couldn’t mine lithium for these electric batteries because there was some species of flower threatened. This highlights a glaring contradiction in the environmental movement.

There are the conversationists and the climate alarmists. I sympathize with conservationists because as someone on the right side of the political spectrum, I recognize the inherent beauty found only in nature that should be preserved for beauty’s sake and as a uniting bond for people of the nation. This is why I love Teddy Roosevelt for his legacy of nationalizing millions of acres of this country for preservation.

With that being said, I do not buy the climate change alarmist overarching narrative but at least these people are logically consistent. They know having these minerals is critical to a green future AS WELL AS ALL OTHER TECHNOLOGY, and relying on China and child slaves in the Congo for them isn’t the best for long term feasibility.

I think stopping the Pebble Mine in Alaska because of its beautiful landscape is absolutely fine. Stopping these mines in the Carolinas and in the middle of the Nevada desert is a bit ridiculous. Let’s drill some holes in the ground and secure our technological future for generations. I YEARN FOR THE MINES

[Pete Wendland · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are two famous quotes about mining. The first, “During the gold rush, it’s a good time to be in the pick and shovel business”. The second, “A mine is a hole in the ground and its owner is a liar”.
Mining is quite literally a dirty business. And so it’s the paradox of our generation that in order to complete a green, clean energy transition, we need to increase mining of copper, lithium, and a dozen or so other elements.

This book primarily focuses on the 2019-2024 period, however speaks back to mining over the past 150 years. There are around 20 specific mining projects spoken about, each its own unique, but familiar, story. The authors does his best not to draw conclusions or pick sides, but to lay out the story as each side sees it. And this neutrality in storytelling can be frustrating, because we want things to be simple. We want there to be a good and bad, a right and wrong.

I pride myself as an environmentalist, someone who believes it’s a necessity to “go green”. And yet I couldn’t have told you where the actual materials to an EV battery or a solar panel or the iPhone components this review was written on actually came from.

As I read this book, I started finally paying attention to the news headlines on mining, updating the same fights described in this book. And while this book stops in 2024, the story will continue for hundreds of years. That is, unless you give up your iPhone, your car, and every single other electronic device in your life? No, I didn’t think so…

[Charles Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

88%

This is great, diving into an unbiased look at the extraction of rare-earth elements, the economic and environmental impact, the obstacles that we have here, without being politically inclined towards either party, wonderful, usually there's so much garbage in these that you end up having to be like, oh, well, of course, Biden was the best president, of course, Trump was the best president, of course, they were all right, yes, you're a fool if you don't think so. With the garbage rhetoric like that, not receiving that here is nice, looking at the actual policies, what was done, and what has been and is currently being done with different extractions and policies in the global economy and environment, that's awesome.

[Mattila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to learn more about modern mining and how it enables our cell phones, EVs, and everything else.

The problems of the past, the challenges moving forward, water issues, culture clash, and the scale.

My running notes

65% of water in Chile is used for mining
46k years, rock shelters blown up (by my current employer)
Brazil tailings dam 300 people died vale
Earth works- tracks mining
Church of england- track mining
Mining most lucrative part of ev supply chain, 10% for miners vs 2% for oems

[Kevin Morey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A deep dive into the global machinations in the race to mine the minerals required to support our transition to green energy, and the paradox it presents with the green movement's overarching desire to protect our environment.

Though the author frames the "war" as between mining and conservation, i came away with the strong sense that we are not going to attain sustainability by going green unless we also figure out how consume less. And that has more to do with finding an alternative to capitalism than finding greener sources of energy.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating and informative account of the metals supporting the energy transition, told through both historical accounts and with present-day characters. Along with a few other recent entries in this space — COBALT RED, MATERIAL WORLD, and VOLT RUSH — this book is an excellent resource. Highly recommend!

[Spen Cer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wide and thorough investigation into the basis of how I’m able to type this sentence and the device that makes this possible. Doesn’t let either side clearly win the debate. Which is frustrating for when I disagree but necessary. A great look at the state of US mining which is closely linked with us here in Canada.

[Rafael Zyngier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told pretty good story of the conflict between the need for metals and minerals to fuel the green revolution while also explaining why this is ruining the planet. Spent a lot of time talking through different examples which frankly were hard to remember and didn’t feel like they added a ton of value rather than just explaining what was going on at a higher level but that was also just the style of the book and they were interesting.

[Daniel Padilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read on the importance of minerals and mining and the very real on the ground consequences/battles faced by communities. Great perspective for anyone interested and or working in climate related topics

[Hillary DG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will definitely read again, this was dense with information that made me appreciate the complexity of green technology development far beyond what I had before.

[Jane]

My college student told me about this book. Highly recommended.

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far my favorite in this topic. An incredibly well researched and interviewed book touching on the multifaceted and competing priorities in developing a green energy future. I like that Scheyder does a decent job to paint everyone in a less than rosy view, whether it’s the start-up mining bro trying to get Bolivian lithium contracts, the white terf environmentalists appropriating indigenous rights for their own vanity project, or the government officials trying to play both sides of the coin. If there’s one thing to take away, it’s not a good situation we find ourselves in, both from an environmental and security of supply situation. It feels like we’re trying to rush together a final project the night before even though it was assigned decades ago.

[Emily Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with most things I feel the public doesn’t understand, and is maybe intentionally left in the dark about, the complicated relationship between climate change and mining. It is a good read showing reasonably fairly both sides of the story, with a bit of a lean towards industry. Would love to get another epilogue discussing current actions the second trump administration is taking to eliminate barriers to mining.

[Cassia Attard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good introduction to the problems of lithium mining and importance of the metal. A lot of repetition I felt.