Push to Low Carbon Emissions May Benefit Mining Firms

With more companies and countries going green, the demand for some metals and other renewable energies is bound to increase. This makes mining an important feature in a low-carbon future. Some of the minerals whose demand may grow include rare earth elements, cobalt and nickel.

The executive director of Mining Industry ML Ed Moriarity explains that the demand for both cobalt and nickel is expected to increase by more than 1,000% by the year 2050. Both cobalt and nickel are used in batteries of electric vehicles.

The battery industry is also forecasted to grow in the next decade to $90 billion from $23 billion. This increase will mainly be caused by the growth in adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). The UK is also planning to ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars by the year 2030, which will help further boost the industry.

Tesla founder Elon Musk recently announced to investors that the company was willing to award a huge contract to any firm that could mine nickel in a way that was both environmentally sensitive and efficient. He added that the contract would last for a long time, as Tesla needs a mining company that can meet the EV firm’s demands, which are expected to increase as more people shift to electric vehicles.

This may be good news for Vale, the operator of Voisey’s Bay, which has what we may call ethical nickel deposits. In 2018, Vale announced that it would be extending its Labrador mine’s life, moving its operations further underground. While the pandemic may have interfered with the company’s plans, Vale did announce recently that the two underground mines are 55% complete. One of the mines is set to begin production in summer 2022 and another in spring 2021.

Once this expansion is complete, the operational costs of the mine will double, and its capital costs will become four times as much. However, to discover new mining sites that hold deposits of the minerals, mineral mapping needs to be conducted. This may take some time, as there’s a lot that goes into exploration work. Voisey’s Bay, for example, was discovered in 1993 but didn’t begin production until almost 12 years later.

Despite not being in commercial production at the moment, Southern Labrador and its rare earth element deposits, which has metals such as cobalt and nickel, is going to be in high demand as vehicle electrification grows. These metals are used in various gadgets, including smartphones, computers and TV screens.

The United States also has its fair share of mining firms excelling at what they do. An example is Energy Fuels Inc. (TSX: EFR) (NYSE American: UUUU). The company’s success at extracting vanadium and uranium has allowed it to branch out into the production of rare earth elements.

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