May 17, 2022
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Implications to secure mineral supply for clean energy technologies for developing countries: A fuzzy based risk analysis for mining projects

Publicated to: JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION. 358 132055- - 2022-07-15 358(), DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132055

Authors:

Jiskani, Izhar Mithal; Moreno-Cabezali, Belen Maria; Rehman, Atta Ur; Fernandez-Crehuet, Jose Maria; Uddin, Salah
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Affiliations

Bureau of Economic Geology - Author
Natl Univ Sci & Technol, NUST Balochistan Campus, Islamabad, Pakistan - Author
NUST Balochistan Campus - Author
Rey Juan Carlos Univ, Dept Business Adm ADO Appl Econ & Fundaments Econ, Mostoles, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, ETS Ingn Ind, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Texas Austin, Bur Econ Geol, Austin, TX 78712 USA - Author
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid , Universidad Rey Juan Carlos - Author
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos - Author
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Abstract

Cleaner energy production relies on the sustainable supply of critical minerals. Ensuring a constant supply of these minerals is integral to cleaner energy initiatives. The majority of global green energy initiatives rely on minerals mined in developing countries. However, there are challenges in fulfilling the ever growing demands to supply minerals in an economically viable, socially beneficial, and environmentally responsible manner, and these can multiply as a result of delays or stoppages caused by various risks affiliated with the mining industry. This can drastically affect the supply chain of minerals and other dependent components in the overall process to generate cleaner energy. Therefore, identification, prioritization, and future remediation plans for probable risks related to the mineral supply chain are necessary. This work identifies 39 different risks characterized in seven major groups: economic and financial risks, environmental and climate, health and safety, management, political and legal, social, and technical and operational. The probable risks associated with mining projects are prioritized using a fuzzy logic-based methodology, and the remediation plans are discussed to address the challenges upfront before their occurrence. Results reveal that the technical and operational and economic and financial risks take precedence over those related to political and legal, social, environmental and climate, health and safety, and managerial groups. This research can help policymakers in developing strategies to mitigate potential risks and lessen their influence on the supply chain of critical minerals supply required for cleaner production.
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Keywords

cleaner energy transitioncleaner mineral productionmining projectsrisk assessmentCleaner energy transitionCleaner mineral productionMinerals supply chainMining projectsRisk assessment

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2022, it was in position 22/275, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Environmental Sciences. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 4.11. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 13, 2025)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 4.1 (source consulted: FECYT Mar 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2026-04-27, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 49
  • Scopus: 59
  • Google Scholar: 66
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-27:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 127.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 126 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 3.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 3 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/91682/

As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

  • Views: 71
  • Downloads: 18
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Pakistan; United States of America.

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