The International Copper Association's president and CEO, Juan Ignacio Diaz, told Anadolu that despite concerns about the depletion of critical mineral resources, there are enough copper deposits both above and below ground to meet the challenge of rising demand.
According to the Copper Mining and Vehicle Electrification report penned by the International Energy Forum (IEF), electric vehicles (EVs) require substantially more copper and other metals than conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
The report indicated that the manufacture of an ICE automobile requires 24 kilograms of copper, whereas the manufacture of an EV requires over double, at 60 kilograms. Such requirements at these high levels raised concerns that the lack of critical mineral resources might not allow full electrification of the global vehicle transportation fleet.
However, under the current policy settings for copper mining, it is highly unlikely that there will be sufficient additional new mines to achieve 100% EVs by 2035. The report advised that policymakers consider changing the vehicle electrification goal from 100% EV to 100% hybrid manufacture by 2035 instead.
Diaz called for better conditions for copper mining to exploit the sufficient copper that is deposited on and underground to meet the sharply increasing global demand for copper, particularly for EVs.
“Meeting the challenge requires creating the conditions for a better social acceptance of responsible mining, new investments, much more efficient permitting processes, the rollout of new mineral processing technologies, increased copper recycling, added circularity in copper-reliant systems, and, overall, supportive critical minerals policy frameworks,” he said.
According to Diaz, copper is critical for the clean energy transition, decarbonization goals and building sustainable infrastructure.
“That is a reason why a number of countries have classified copper as a “critical mineral” (or a similar designation), but more countries need to do the same. I am thinking of the US in particular, where copper has not been granted this designation even though it is merited.”
To this end, he recommended developing a holistic action plan as soon as possible so that the world does not lack the copper it needs for the energy transition. He advised that governments that produce or have reserves that they can produce create the conditions to enable copper to meet the world's clean energy needs and overcome other sustainability challenges.
- About 30% of copper demand is from recycled material
With copper’s unique quality of being completely recyclable without losing any of its properties, about 30% of copper demand is being met by recycled material. Therefore, primary and secondary production methods will need to be used together to meet copper demand in the future.
While copper statistics frequently refer to copper as 'consumed,' Diaz contended that this is inaccurate because copper is actually used and recycled rather than consumed, as seen by the fact that approximately two-thirds of the copper produced since 1900 is still being used productively today.
The worldwide authority on copper reserves, the US Geological Survey (USGS), which has evaluated the agency's copper reserves and resources since the 1950s, has reported that there are approximately 40 years of copper reserves left in the world and about 200 years of copper resources not yet extracted.
However, although these estimates are considered accurate based on available data at the time, Diaz said they do not take into account the technological developments or advanced mining methods that will emerge in the coming years. As a result, new deposits that will be uncovered and existing resources that will be more readily extracted have not been taken into account, and the estimates will reveal a different projection from previous forecasts that showed that global copper reserves would run out before 1990.
Although the USGS continues to report about 40 years of copper reserves, equivalent to approximately 900 million tonnes, and 200 years of resources, or around 5 billion tonnes, he said the world still has significant quantities of copper.
- Copper is absolutely critical to green energy transition
Copper is absolutely critical to ensuring the transition to green energy, as high-energy devices need copper to perform at the highest energy efficiency level, Diaz said.
Renewable energy requires four to 12 times more copper than fossil fuel-based power generation. Similarly, an EV needs three to four times more copper than a vehicle with a similarly-sized internal combustion engine.
Copper is very important for other global megatrends, including urbanization and digitalization. This is because a global population with increasing economic spending power will consume more of the products associated with a higher standard of living that require copper.
He concluded that copper has unique and amazing properties, and if its demand were to be replaced in its primary uses, many end-use applications would operate less efficiently and emit more carbon dioxide, setting the world on a backward trajectory that it cannot afford.
By Duygu Alhan
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr