USGS issues first earthquake risk study on commodities

Scientists with the United States Geographical Survey, a government research agency, have developed a new scientific assessment of how earthquakes threaten worldwide mineral commodity supplies.  

The methodology was developed through studying copper and its bypoduct rhenium but has wider use than its focus., the agency said on Thursday.  

“Our study assessed the potential for the disruption to the supplies,” Kishor Jaiswal, USGS research structural engineer and lead author of the study, said in a release. “This published framework will serve as a template for other mineral commodities of interest around the world.”

With many of the largest copper mines and processing facilities concentrated in the highly seismic regions of South America, East Asia, and the Pacific, the study could be incorporated into economic models to predict or assess supply disruptions, the USGS said. Such analyses could be useful to national governments, mining companies, development organizations and insurance companies in making key management and business decisions.  

Earthquakes have the potential to substantially affect mining operations, leading to supply chain disruptions that adversely affect the global economy, the USGS said. The new study quantifies that risk to copper and rhenium supply by examining the impact of earthquakes on mining, smelting, and refining operations across the globe.

“The potential impacts of earthquake hazards on global mineral commodity supplies have previously not been systemically quantified,” Nedal Nassar, USGS chief of Minerals Intelligence Research, said in the release.  

The full study is here.