Innergex owns 55% of Pampa Elvira Solar, which generates heat through solar thermal collectors to recover dissolved copper.

South Africa produced an energy-transition plan last year that estimated it will need 1.5 trillion rand ($82 billion) in investment over the next five years.

At peak levels, the world would need to dig up 3.3 gigatons of earth every year to obtain the necessary metals.

The original Tesla battery, owned and operated by France-based renewables group Neoen SA, is now a cornerstone of South Australia’s grid.

Saudi Arabia has spent more than $37 million since 2017 searching for deposits but only managed to identify reserves that would be “severely uneconomic” to mine.