Waihī's Martha open cast mine. Photo: Google Earth
Much of the recent talk about mining has focused on extracting critical minerals, but a physicist from Auckland University wants to turn that conversation on its head.
Professor Nicola Gaston is the Director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, and she wants the planning to focus on what's being built and then for the thought to be around how to get what's needed and not just look to mining. She says innovative development can be used to find alternative elements such using aluminium in batteries instead of lithium. Nicola Gaston also points to the increasing efforts to re-cycle critical minerals.
