- Copper is an essential metal in electric vehicles, wind and solar technologies, and energy storage solutions.
- Zambia plans to increase copper production from less than 800,000 to three million tonnes a year by 2032.
Tertiary Minerals, a mineral mining firm, has reiterated its belief that Copper is the most essential metal in the clean energy transition. This is because it is necessary in electric vehicles, wind and solar energy technologies, and energy storage solutions. In a project update issued on Monday, November 6, the company said long-term copper shortage forecast was based on dwindling supply from existing mines and limitations on new mine supply.
The executive chairperson of Tertiary Minerals, Patrick Cheetham, said, “Our focus is on Copper. Copper forms the veins and arteries that move electricity, the lifeblood of the green energy transition. The fundamentals for future copper demand are strong, and the existing mine supply is on a downward trajectory. This creates a huge opportunity for copper explorers and miners that, I believe, has been overlooked by the junior and midtier market in the rush for the new generation of energy metals such as lithium and rare earths.”
He added that, by contrast, all the major mining companies had recognised this supply problem. In addition, Zambia had benefitted from substantial new investment in exploration, mine expansion and redevelopment, encouraged by new government fiscal policies. Zambia plans to increase copper production from less than 800,000 to three million tonnes a year by 2032. It is also improving its fiscal regime to attract investment.
The mining industry has responded to this, with multiple investments of more than $1 billion recently announced for mine expansions and new copper mine developments in Zambia. Regarding Tertiary’s involvement, the company said it had completed exploration work on all its copper projects in Zambia in the past 12 months. The objective was to complete soil sampling on all its Zambian projects, defining a series of high-grade copper-in-soil anomalies.