The growing variety of injectable cosmetic treatments and fillers around the globe is seemingly driven by the universal have to look younger. Most are given to women, but an increasing number to men Keep them too.
Youth's belief on this beauty has a geological cost. Over 14 million stainless steel hypodermic needles Annuals are used and discarded for cosmetic treatments around the globe. The metals used to make them are considered essential.
Stainless steel is an iron and chromium alloy with nickel added to most of it. The iron within the needle can have come from the Pilbara in Western Australia. It was created a billion years ago when oxygen from the photosynthesis of early bacteria combined with iron to decide on the ocean floor in ancient oceans.
The chromium could have come from South Africa's Bushold Complex, a rapid intrusion created when magma found its way into the Earth's crust through vertical cracks, then cooled, allowing the chromite to distinguish itself, forming crystals in distinct layers.
And then there’s the nickel. Like chromite, it began its life within the rapid acceleration and cooling of magma related to the formation of the continents as we now know them, and thru the weathering of igneous rocks. It is probably going that these got here from Indonesia, where nickel deposits are near the surface and economical to extract.
A key mineral is one which is taken into account essential to a state's economy, national security, and clean energy technologies, and its supply chain is disrupted by war, tariffs, and shortages. Critical minerals can’t be easily replaced by anything.
Faststock/Shutterstock
Critical list
What is on a specific country's list of major minerals says something concerning the geopolitics of the places where the commodity is mined, the characteristics of the commodity itself and the priorities of the country compiling the list.
Chromium is taken into account essential by the United States, Canada, and Australia since it is important for the production of stainless-steel and other high-performance alloys. Between 2020 and 2040, demand for chromium is anticipated to extend by an element of 75. Clean energy transition. There are reserves ConcentratedSouth Africa will generate greater than 40 percent of the provision in 2023, followed by Kazakhstan, Turkey, India and Finland.
Nickel was added to the UK's critical mineral list in 2024. “Swiss Army Knife” Among the energy transfer minerals, it’s used to extend the energy density in lithium batteries, increasing their compactness and The range in electric cars. Conducted by Indonesia 42% of the world's reserves.
Even iron ore is on the list. High-quality iron ore was added to Canada's list of key minerals in 2024 resulting from its importance for “green steel” production and beneficiation goals.
The rapidly growing demand for chrome steel for cosmetic purposes is confused with the urgent demands of other sectors. It is important for construction, transportation, production and storage of food, medicine and manufacturing of consumer goods.
This is Important for defense. Stainless steel is utilized in aircraft and vehicle components, ships, missile parts and more Ballistic.
Needles utilized in cosmetic procedures are also entangled with other resource-related issues that don’t have any easy answers: conflict over mining, concerns concerning the environmental and social impacts of mining and conflict over latest mining frontiers, e.g. deep sea And the moon.
Then there’s the carbon footprint of the various processes required to show the stones into needles and get rid of them safely. Each one needs to be mined, shipped, smelted, prepared, trucked, used, put right into a sharp container after which ignited.
Do we now have to choose from a cosmetic procedure or a green transition? Cosmetic procedure or defense? No. Our growing demand for injectable cosmetic procedures will not be chargeable for making chromium, nickel and iron ore critical. But that's a part of the story and it comes with a price.
