Six new large mines need to come online annually by 2050 to meet global copper demand – study

Article Source: Mining.com

A study by researchers at the University of Michigan and Cornell University has found that copper cannot be mined quickly enough to keep up with current US policy guidelines to transition the country’s electricity and vehicle infrastructure to renewable energy.

The paper, published by the International Energy Forum, examined 120 years of global data from copper mining companies and calculated how much copper the US electricity infrastructure and car fleet would need to upgrade to renewable energy. It found that renewable energy’s copper needs would outstrip what copper mines can produce at the current rate.

This is particularly the case taking into account that the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022, calls for 100% of cars manufactured to be electric vehicles by 2035. But an electric vehicle requires three to five times as much copper as an internal combustion engine vehicle — not to mention the copper required for upgrades to the electric grid.

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