The world is going electric. In the race to net zero, we need electric cars, wind turbines and batteries — lots of them. That means digging up more of the metals and minerals vital for the green transition. An electric vehicle (EV) requires about four times as much copper as an ordinary car. But does the world have enough to build the many millions of EVs expected to hit the roads in the coming decade?
Mike Henry, chief executive of mining behemoth BHP, smiled. “The world’s not going to run out of copper,” he said. “We can be very confident about that.” The same applies to nickel, used in car batteries, and the other minerals that are key to global growth, he added. “There’s more
