and some more
Key insights from the inaugural Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh
https://www.northernminer.com/commodities-markets/future-minerals-forum/1003838037/Mining personality Robert Friedland added the big-thinking perspective. “Everything we touch is either mined or grown agriculturally,” he said.
According to the mining entrepreneur Saudi Arabia, as a major oil-producing country globally, is already entrenched in mining. “When you drill a well looking for oil, well, it takes steel and takes metal,” he reminded the audience.
“It produces oil and creates energy that the world needs. We will see mining completely reinvent itself with the support of the Saudi government. With its forward looking-policy, enormous changes will accelerate,” said Friedland.Segueing into Bristow’s passion for young talent acquisition and retention, Friedland said a younger generation of Saudis armed with the leading energy position in the world is in a place to truly take a new look at mining and develop it on truly sustainable principles.
“The central location of this kingdom, the enormous energy of its useful government, and vision for 2030 can make this the mining capital of the world,” Friedland proclaimed.
Friedland’s approach encompasses a big-picture view. “We need to look at the world from the cradle to the grave, from sperm to term, how the whole system has to be looked at and reinvented.”
Friedland said the energy transition depended entirely on metals, especially copper, nickel and other metals.
“If we are to make any progress on the reduction of hydrocarbon and make you a better world – hydrocarbon is not a bad thing, hydrocarbon has brought us to the current state of human civilization – but every global wind turbine fleet we’re building will entail demand of another 5 million tonnes of copper by 2028 to satiate the increasing pace of industrialization.”
Friedland emphasized how copper is the metal that drives the future. “2028 is tomorrow morning, ‘Vision 2030’ is tomorrow morning in the history of our species. They’ll be none of these giant wind farms without copper metal. Copper is the electric vehicle story. It depends on copper completely.
“In 2030, we will have at least 20 million EV charging points globally. We’ll need a 250% increase in current copper consumption just to accomplish that. And by 2040, we’ll need 4 million tonnes, just for passenger EVs, but of course, the story doesn’t stop at the electric car.
“The advent of hydrogen fuel celled vehicles will also depend heavily on an electrified chassis, expanding demand for copper further,” he said.
The advent of electrified industrial vehicles scales up these demand curves exponentially.
“There’s seven, eight, nine million people scheduled to be on this planet. How much global warming do we create even to make those cars if everybody has a car? How is electric energy generated and transmitted?
“In six, short years, we’ll produce 22 million EVs a year,” he said.
“I believe that the young people of Saudi Arabia have a critical and bright future in the whole system of maintaining energy security for the world because energy security is number one.”
“It’s a fraud to say that we have enough nickel and copper to electrify all the world’s cars. We can electrify some cars for people who can afford that, but not all cars. And so, I can assure you humanity will depend on the forms of energy security that comes to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia for a long, long time,” said Friedland.
COPPER MAKES ME SALIVATE
