From this morning's West Australian newspaper: ENERGY’S MISSING...

From this morning's West Australian newspaper:

ENERGY’S MISSING ELEMENT


Copper is key in the push to net zero emissions with demand to double by 2035. But finding it and mining it are big obstacles. So, what’s the answer?

CU LATER
There are two possible answers. The first is to double down on “brownfield” sites where mines already exist. Freeport has 22mt of copper reserves in the US alone. It takes between six and 10 years to develop such projects, and the current severe labour shortage could make it harder still. But it is more promising than starting from scratch.
The second answer is technology. Mr Adkerson said Freeport has about 17mt of residual copper left in its leaching processes. He hopes that new reagents, as well as new operating techniques using data analytics, will recover some of that in a way that is less costly than digging a new mine, emits less carbon and faces fewer regulatory hurdles.