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Significantly more red metal needed to keep going green

As such, the case for more big copper mines gets stronger by the day, with yet another industry expert outlining why the red metal is “at the centre” of demand for electrification and the “green technologies”.

Michael Huggins, director and head of Australia and New Zealand for global management consultancy Partners in Performance, says copper is a key metal used in all electrification technologies and the majority of green technologies, with demand predicted to grow 24-40% by 2040.

There is a 9-million-tonne copper deficit expected by 2030, with electric vehicles alone requiring nearly 4 million tonnes of copper each year by 2040 – an important point recently made by industry legend and Ivanhoe Mines founder Robert Friedland.

Each electric vehicle requires 500,000 pounds of raw materials and that includes copper, with demand for its use in EVs set to increase tenfold by 2030.

While each normal internal combustion engine vehicle requires 20kg of copper, over 5x that amount is needed for a fully electric, plug-in vehicle, and that is before factoring in how the power is generated and then connected to charge the vehicle.

To provide a couple of examples, solar and wind power generation are said to be seven to 37 times more copper intensive than traditional electricity generating technologies, and to build a 100km transmission line is estimated to require about $125 million worth of copper.

The shift to green power, and upgrades to the national grids to facilitate this, in Australia alone show the implications for copper demand.

But where exactly is that new copper – all 700 million tonnes over the next 22 years – going to come from?

Huggins emphasised the massive underinvestment in copper exploration which is putting pressure on supply amid rapidly rising demand.

“The current shortage isn’t about there not being enough copper – it is about the world’s copper mines not producing enough supply,” he said in recent Australian Mining Review article.

“The shortage is so severe that electric car manufacturers may need to vertically integrate and buy a copper mine as part of their operations. It may seem extreme, but Tesla has already become a technical partner in a nickel mine in New Caledonia to ensure its nickel supply.”

Such trends in investment are expected to be geared towards Tier 1 jurisdictions. From this perspective, Australia is well placed with the world’s second largest reserves of copper.

There are a few different copper deposit types but there is an increasing focus on porphyry deposits in particular

Why copper is needed to keep Australia’s lights on now and increasingly in the future - *