Gold of the future, precious minerals and in the hands of a few producers
When we update an email, like it on Instagram or FB or send a smiling “emoticon” we consume something more precious than gold. Little known raw materials such as vanadium, tungsten, germanium, antimony, lithium, cobalt, copper, silver and nickel. For our mobile phone, for example, we need between 30 and 120 minerals extracted from the planet. And the world’s ecological transition also passes through these minerals. Joe Biden understood this well when he got the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) approved a year ago, a bill on the climate, which aims to facilitate the transition to a low-emissions economy through tax breaks and subsidies and a law to incentivize the production of semiconductors (CHIPS). Many of these minerals (with strong thermal resistance and superconductivity) serve a sustainable future, in electric vehicles, wind turbines and photovoltaic panels.
Gold of the future, the demand for lithium, cobalt and nickel has tripled
These include lithium, which has tripled its demand in the last 4 years, or cobalt (+70%), or nickel (+40%) worldwide. The goal for 2050 should be net-zero emissions. In this context, the demand for precious materials such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and neodymium should grow 3.5 times by 2030 (30 million tons). The demand for materials such as lithium, chromium, cobalt, titanium, selenium and magnesium will thus grow exponentially. There could also be a demand for mining experts of over 500,000 people. A lot of energy and a lot of water will be needed to produce and refine.
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