The mining sector now has a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with the renewable energy sector on both the supply and demand sides, analysts say. The link between the industries will tighten as demand for the materials used in clean energy infrastructure grows.
Mining will be crucial to meeting the need for materials like lithium and steel, which are used in wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries, respectively. In turn, miners will increasingly rely on renewable energy to reduce costs, enhance performance, and respond to investor concerns about good governance.
“For the mining sector, a shift to a low-carbon economy has a lot of potential upsides because the kinds of materials that are going to be needed will grow exponentially,” Mining Association of Canada CEO Pierre Gratton said in an interview with Business in Vancouver.
For example, a three-megawatt wind turbine requires 100 tons of steel and 80 tons of coal, International Council on Mining and Metals CEO Tom Butler explains. In addition, demand for lithium has increased 10% each year since 2000. “Mining is critical to the development of a clean-tech industry,” Butler asserts.
Read the full article at Business in Vancouver.