The Wild West of Copper Mining - 264

In November 2016, Hillary Clinton was the solar and wind power champion. She led in the polls to be the next president of the United States. The Canadian-based copper company, Highland Copper, had an office in Wakefield on US 2. Back then, if we listened to the press reports, we might have felt a new copper mine would open anytime. And then?

Before I address the “And then,” let’s examine copper’s role in modern electrified life. When you speak about nearly anything that uses or produces electricity, you will find copper and a lot of it. For example, for each Mega Watt of potential wind power from a wind turbine, the generator needs 3.6 tonnes of copper.  When comparing a gas car to an electric vehicle, a gas-powered car needs 18 to 55 lbs of copper, a hybrid needs 85 to 110 lbs, and a fully electric vehicle 165 to 185 pounds.

Recently, with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), we started the largest mineral rush ever. Its provisions to spur clean energy growth, according to Forbes Business Energy*, will increase the demand for lithium by 700%, nickel demand to triple, and copper to double by 2050. Copper demand will continue to rise for years. The clean energy transition is transforming the mining industry.

No metal is more crucial to electrification than copper. Yes, aluminum can sometimes be substituted, and silver is even better. But aluminum is generally a poor substitute, and silver is far too expensive. Copper is the King of electricity. Copper and electrification are joined at the hip.  

Our ability to electrify and escape carbon-intensive fossil fuels will depend, in large part, on our ability to ramp up new copper mines. But, on average, it takes 16 years from the discovery of ore body to copper production.

We need to open, reopen, and enlarge copper mines. Copper mines are crucial to the electrification required to stop polluting the atmosphere. This is true now and was true in 2016.  

So what happened?

“And then,” in 2016, we elected Donald Trump.

It turns out we needed to be more scientifically literate about climate change. Additionally, as it turned out, we needed to understand that a copper mine needs someone to buy the copper. So when Donald Trump pulled us out of the Paris Climate Accord in June 2017, Highland Copper closed its doors in Wakefield.   In essence, in November of 2016, we voted the mine, the jobs, and the money out of town.

Today the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has super-charged the demand for everything electric. Already 31 new battery manufacturing plants are up and running. Massive amounts of private money are flowing into R&D.  New electric cars are coming off the drawing boards (computer screens) and into production. In energy production, companies have announced plans for 96 gigawatts of new clean power.

With all this transformative clean electrification, you would think Highland Copper would be able to raise the money to open.  But there needs to be some political stability.

Opening a new mine requires a lot of capital and is a high-risk bet. If you had deep pockets and were looking for potential investments, would you put your money in an American copper mine today? If you had invested before the 2016 election, the election which awarded the presidency to Donald Trump, you would have made a costly mistake.

Today, Donald Trump is again the leading contender for the Republican nomination. This is the same person with the Republican Party that pulled us out of the Paris Climate Accord. As a nation, we are even more destabilizing racist than in 2016. The January 6th insurrection proved that elements in the USA are subverting our country. Would you invest in a new copper mine in the United States, given that the same events could happen again?

Day-to-day climate catastrophes worldwide have, for most Americans, driven home the climate scientists’ warnings. We are capable of destroying the climate, while conversely, we are also capable of saving it. So in 2024, will we vote to survive? (And as a side benefit, will we make opening the copper mine possible?)

My feeling is, no matter who runs when we go to the polls and vote for a president in 2024, the most pressing question Americans will have on their minds will not be the climate or if we will finally get a copper mine, but the question will be, “Who gets to use the woman’s bathroom?”

I know issues of race and gender are the ones we gravitate to in everyday gossip. But when we go to the polls and vote, I am praying we can focus on issues that will ensure a planet our kids can survive on and thrive on.

1.)             The Forbes report is based on a study by the Woods Mackenzie’s Metals and Mining Team.

2.)             The projections for growth in mining come from the World Bank and the International Energy Agency.

3.)             The effect of IRA stimulus action on the economy comes from the New York Times.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Legacy

Legacy is the masterpiece of Yann Artur-Bertrand. It is a must watch 1 hour and 41-minute documentary offered on Amazon Prime. (Prime is available for free on a one-month trial basis.) Inspired by his love of nature and humanity Bertrand has taken the wisdom attained through 50 years of observing nature and employed his mastery of film to give us a spellbinding history of earth and man. At this critical juncture in man’s ascent, it is his passion, a grandfather’s passion to protect his grandchildren, which drives him to excel at 76. If we look back to the days of Leonardo De Vinci or Michelangelo these geniuses had a very small audience with whom to communicate, to make a positive impression, and to create change. They communicated primarily with the aristocracy and the clergy.   There was no need to influence the masses since the common man was not involved in decision making. Commoners could not even read or write. Democracy has widened the base of decision making. By voting ...
Read more

Your Hero: Plato or Joe the Plumber?

My appreciation for the plumber came to me from opposite directions. As a semi-successful do-it-yourself plumber, I slowly learned a bit about the trade. I learned that when the sewer starts to backup plumbers should be reached by dialing 911.   Sorry Plato, you lose round one. But, what about the history of plumbing and its importance to human civilization? Plumbing history came to me accidentally.    While employed by the Military Sealift Command, I was “stuck” on the Island of Crete. Being stuck on Crete is not a hardship. In fact, you might pray that you suffer this fate one day. Before docking, I read in National Geographic, about an ancient civilization on Crete called the Minoan. In its heyday, young nimble girls would leap over charging bulls at festivals. In a way it was like modern Olympic gymnastics springboard competition between the horns. The article said there were frescos on preserved walls of the ancient Palace of Knossos depicting the event. ...
Read more

Becoming Wise Gardeners

Often, when we talk about saving the earth’s climate we talk about the number one problem, the need to switch energy sources from polluting and archaic fossil fuels to modern clean energy sources. More so, I enjoy reading and learning about the second simultaneous step we need to take to save the climate. Some of the Carbon Dioxide must be removed from the air and stored. Scientists use the terms Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), or Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) to describe this. When carbon is captured it must be used or safely put somewhere. Today it is pumped back into the earth into old mines or oil fields. These mines and oil fields are called “sinks”. Mother Nature has a lot of natural sinks. For instance, I am sitting in my favorite rocking chair listening to music. My chair and my speakers are made of wood. Alive, or dead, a tree and its commercial product timber, are natural carbon sinks. In fact, any plant is a carbon sink. Far and away the best carbon sink...
Read more