Battery and Energy Metals: Future Drivers of the Minerals Industry?

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1-2021

Publication Title

SEG Discovery

Issue

127

First page number:

11

Last page number:

18

Abstract

A wide range of metals and minerals are currently used in battery and energy technology, meaning that an increasing number of these commodities are being considered as potentially viable primary products by the minerals industry. A select group of these minerals and elements that are vital for energy and battery technologies, including Al, Cr, Co, Cu, graphite, In, Li, Mn, Mo, the rare earth elements (REEs; primarily Dy and Nd), Ni, Ag, Ti, and V, are also likely to undergo rapid increases in demand as a result of the move toward low- and zero-CO2 energy and transportation technology (often termed the energy transition) driven by climate change mitigation and consumer and investor concerns and demands. Increased levels of mineral exploration, discovery, and production will be needed to meet this rising demand. However, several of these key metals and minerals are produced as co- and by-products of other elements. This means that their production is inherently linked to the production of main product elements that may not undergo similar increases in demand, creating issues related to security of supply. It is also not simple to just produce more metal and minerals given the environmental, social, and governmental challenges the global mining industry currently faces. Finally, there are uncertainties over exactly what technologies will dominate the energy transition, meaning that robust demand predictions are still relatively problematic.

Keywords

climate change, demand, energy sources, future, global, industry, metal ores, mineral resources, production, recycling, renewable energy, technology, utilization

Controlled Subject

Metal-work--Energy consumption

Disciplines

Power and Energy

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