The Demeter project consists on the production of a documentary film about the impacts of mining activities and refinery industries on the environment and on local populations.

The extraction of copper, iron, cobalt or rare earths undermines, in some cases, basic human rights and destroys our natural ecosystems. However, these same metals are used in significant quantities in our wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars.... All these technologies required to save the climate !

Indeed, it makes no sense to use an electric car, if its production needs to destroy last primary rainforests and to exploit children on the mines !

The goal of this project is to raise awareness about current mining sector impacts. The documentary will make possible to think together about a sustainable way of extracting and using metals, in order to develop an ethical energy transition respectful to our Environment.

More info about the project on the following links:

https://www.isf-france.org/articles/de-lextraction-des-metaux-la-transition-energetique
http://fondation-grenoble-inp.fr/detail/projet-demeter/

We are Adrien Toledano and Nicolas Brun, and we are two engineering students of the Grenoble Institute of Technology in France, also members of the French NGO Engineers Without Borders.

During our engineering studies, we followed a lot of courses about energy transition, wind turbines and solar panels integration on networks, storage systems, renewable technologies in electricity markets, but we never have been brought up about the resources needed to produce these famous, clean, green and magical technologies!

We became aware of the socio-environmental impacts caused by metal extraction needed for our everyday devices, like our smartphones or our computers, during a training weekend organized by ISF SystExt (a group of engineers specialized on extractive systems). Many of these metals are also used and in major proportion on the production of renewable technologies... After reading several books, we decided to make a documentary to heighten a maximum of people's awareness!

We have already start the project 3 months ago, but it is just the beginning!

What have we already done ?

☞  5-week step in France interviewing experts from the CNRS and the IPCC, energy companies and associations !
☞  7-week step in Malaysia interviewing local politicians, members of the Parliament, mining companies experts, citizens and mines and refinery plants victims…

What do we want to do ?

☞ go to Australia and Brazil in order to get closer to the mining industry, and interview local experts which we are already in contact !
☞ work on the film editing helped by a graphist designer
☞ organize awareness conferences and share the documentary

We need you ! Please help us :-)

What have we done in France ?

During our first step in France, we had interview several researchers and experts on the climate change and energy transition issues:

🎥 Olivier Vidal, research supervisor from the CNRS: about base metal resources required for the renewable energy transition

🎥 Patrick Criqui, emeritus research supervisor from the GAEL and member of the IPCC: about climate change and economy related to renewable energies

🎥 Karine Samuel, researcher at the University Grenoble Alpes: about Need for IoT project and risks linked to resources for renewable energies

🎥 Claude Laveu, engineer in the environment division at EDF: about EDF's strategy on renewable technologies development

🎥 Vincent Mignerot, founder and ex-president of Adrastia association: about the social aspects of climate change, collapse theory and renewable technologies limits

🎥 Pascal Tixador, research supervisor from the CNRS and G2ELab: about new materials and their applications for the energy transition

More interviews are coming, such as thoses of Philippe Bihouix, Gilles Lepesant and Ugo Bardi!

What have we done in Malaysia ? 

During this two months accross the country, we met and interviewed a large scale of experts, politicians, companies leaders, association members and mining activities victims!

Overmore, we studied and filmed bauxite mines which had destroyed Kuantan landscape and local economy.

We also had the opportunity to visit and film Lynas Advanced Materials Plant. This rare earth refinery plant is essential for the energy transition because it plays a key role on the global rare earth supply chain and fight against China’s plants monopoly. But Lynas company has a controversial way to manage the radioactive waste produced by the plant. A social and political movement against Lynas activities emerged in 2008 and the fight still remains!

Here the list of the people we interviewed in Malaysia:

🎥 YB Wong Tack, member of the Malaysian Parliament and leader of the national ecological movement

🎥 YB Fuziah Salleh, member of Parliament of Malaysia and Representative of Kuantan Region

🎥 Mr Azizi, director of Mineral and Geoscience Division, Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources

🎥 Mr Muhamad, Executive Director of the Malaysian Chamber of Mines

🎥 Mr Le Roux, vice-president of Lynas Corporation

🎥 Dr. Leung, production manager of the plant at Lynas Corporation

🎥 Ms Fatah, executive manager for radioactive waste safety at Lynas Corporation

🎥 Dr. Veluri, Design Thinking & Strategic Innovation at Grunfos, Expert for Rare Earths

🎥 Mr Tan Bun Teet, chairperson of Save Malaysia Stop Lynas NGO

🎥 Mr Chaw, citizen of Kuantan, member of the Save Malaysia Stop Lynas NGO

🎥 Mr Nanda, citizen of Kuantan, activist and victim of the Lynas rare earth refinery plant

🎥 Ms Rosnita, employee of Lynas Corporation and citizen of Kuantan

🎥 Mr Naseri, citizen of Kuantan impacted by bauxite mines

🎥 Mr Neerik, citizen of Kuantan impacted by bauxite mines

In addition to these interviews and videos, we learned about mining activities and refinery industries’ situation in Malaysia, and we studied in more detail some technical subjects.

Don't hesitate to follow us on Facebook, to keep up to date with our project: https://www.facebook.com/projetdemeter/