World leaders have set a 25 year timeline to deliver solutions for climate change. Decarbonisation requires electrification and unprecedented levels of new minerals. Resourceful thinking is critical to enable the transformation.
Resource Scarcity.
In all of human history, we have extracted some 700 million tons of Copper from the Earth. To meet our clean energy goals, we’ll have to mine as much again in 20-odd years. The International Energy Agency estimates by 2050, global demand for Cobalt for EVs alone will soar to five times of what it was in 2022. Demand for Nickel will be 10 times higher. Lithium, 15 times.
A new economic war for critical minerals has begun. To build electric vehicles, solar panels, cell phones, and millions of other devices means the world must dig more mines to extract Lithium, Copper, and other vital building blocks.
Metals are natural products, but the Earth does not relinquish them willingly. Mining and mines are hard and expensive, and the talent pool of engineers and mining expertise has declined in Europe and North America. In a world of increasing insecurity there is a worldwide reckoning over the sourcing of necessary materials and equipment, and this will get exponentially more complex.
Every metal and mineral has its own unique supply chain, with the majority dominated by downstream refining or processing in China.
Why Action is Required
The International Energy Agency warns that prospect of a rapid increase in demand for critical minerals, raises huge questions and will require some resourceful thinking.
World leaders have committed and legislated to meet net zero by 2050.
When you consider that Europe’s last major nickel mine located in Finland took 31 years to come online, twenty five years is no time at all.
If that is not hard enough, the European Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Act sets the following legal requirements to be achieved by 2030.
10% of the EU’s annual consumption for extraction to be sourced from within the EU
40% of the EU’s annual consumption for processing or refining to occur within the EU
15% of the EU’s annual consumption to come from domestic recycling
Finally, no single third country to exceed 65% of strategic mineral supply or processing.
All this by 2030, that’s a huge amount of change.
The next 5 years will require incredible resourceful thinking to develop and deliver action plans to secure resources.
James is trusted by C-suites globally to advise and fund into their resource and asset intensive businesses.
With over 25 years deep domain expertise and international experience in financing and negotiating contracts with industrial and resources firms across multiple sectors. He has a proven track record in delivering client needs.
He brings practical and extensive experience working and consulting on projects, financing and the execution and is equally comfortable in the field or presenting to boardrooms.
James brings a well-formed global network of decision makers, budget holders, business leaders, delivery experts and subject matter thought leaders. He has completed major resources and energy intensive industry transactions in every major continent on the planet.
James has lived in UK, Botswana, Kenya, South Africa, Malaysia and Australia and currently resides in Switzerland.
James Copland
