Swiss Minerals Observatory

Metals and other mined products are indispensable in our modern society. The demand for mineral resources will continue to increase due to the growth of world population, global economic development and energy transition. Raw materials are extracted in various countries around the globe, most of them low- and middle income countries, and are then introduced into highly complex production networks where goods are produced and consumed in markets that are very far apart from each other. Like other high-income countries with limited resource wealth, Switzerland is a major mineral trading hub and even imports up to two-thirds of globally extracted gold.

The Swiss Minerals Observatory (SMO) group is a multidisciplinary research group with backgrounds in social science, natural science and engineering, developing science-based practical methodologies for promoting sustainable production, consumption, and trade of mineral resources. We analyse the environmental and social impacts generated along different steps in the global value chain of minerals. Moreover, we develop and improve current methodologies for quantifying and evaluating social and environmental impacts induced by mineral products used in modern society.

Our research aims at :

1. developing a regional-scale hydrological and pollutant transport model for assessing trace metals pollution in a mining area
2. implementing an innovative community-based monitoring to measure water pollution a mining area
3. assessing economic and health impacts of artisanal gold mining
4. improving multi-regional input-output (MRIO) methodology and database for creating transparency on global value chains and their environmental and social impacts
5. studying consumer behavior change and formulating policy propositions for a more responsible mineral consumption.
   

The main scientific challenge lies in the development of methods to bridge the information gap from the local scale where resource extraction occurs to the national and international scale where reporting initiatives aim at providing more transparency and compliance with best practice.