Copper is critical to manufacturing electric vehicles, renewable energy systems and cleaner technologies to battle global warming – and the world is going to need more of it, according to metals magnate Alisher Usmanov.
Copper could face a severe supply problem as green-focused industries and technologies gain traction and increase demand, Usmanov wrote in an editorial for the World Economic Forum. New output will be key to avoiding shortages, and Russia’s remote Udokan deposit, which is the world’s third largest untapped copper deposit, can make a difference in getting green projects going.
Rapidly accelerating markets for electric vehicles and battery storage, for instance, rely on copper. The metal will also be critical for renewable energy technologies because it can conduct electricity better than other metals.
Deploying the technologies required to achieve net zero will lead to a compound annual growth rate in copper consumption of 3.6% by 2030, according to Bank of America research.
This comes as net substitution of the metal stands below 1% of total global copper consumption, which predominantly occurs within the cable industry. Other substitutions are unlikely in the near future, according to Usmanov.
Demand for copper from clean energy technologies will increase by 2.7 times compared to 2020, according to the International Energy Agency.
Usmanov’s Udokan Copper, part of diversified holding USM, seeks to ease the issue with sustainable mining. The company is developing a major deposit in a remote part of eastern Russia with harsh climate conditions. Since 1949, several attempts to initiate development of the deposit have failed after being written off as unfeasible.
A unique patented technological process will make copper extraction from Udokan ores feasible, profitable and cleaner than pyrometallurgical processing, according to Usmanov.
Stage one will see cathode copper and sulphide concentrate production, amounting to 135,000 tpa of copper. Stage two, undergoing a current feasibility study, will increase the processing capacity of ore from 15 mtpa to around 40 mtpa, making Udokan a global market supplier.
The mining itself will use sustainability as its own starting blocks, according to Usmanov.
More than 50% of the energy required at stages one and two of the plant will be fueled by hydropower. Expanding the use of this renewable energy source will be vital to the project, despite being resource and time-intensive.
Greenhouse gas emissions have lead to steadily increasing temperatures around the world. This has contributed to droughts, wildfires, melting polar ice and storms of increasing intensity. In response, world leaders, investments funds and corporations have met to coordinate action plans for an emissions-free global agenda.
