Aquitaine Metals head Chris Taylor believes his newest project could surpass one of the biggest recent discoveries of his storied career for scale and richness.
While seabed mining remains technologically and commercially unproven, rising demand for metals crucial to decarbonization are already unleashing a gold rush to the bottom of the sea.
Global exploration spending for base metals will nearly double within five years from the current annual $70 million to $80 million, CTO Laura Tyler says.
Adding more capacity to refine metals into specialist chemicals or materials and building expertise in manufacturing lithium-ion cells or battery packs, would enable the battery industry to contribute about A$7.4 billion to the nation’s economy by 2030.
Wood Mackenzie plots the forecast progress of gold miners out to 2030 against the reduction in emissions required to align with the 2°C and 1.5°C targets.
The release of state metal reserves is one of a number of attempts by Beijing to cool a stellar rally in commodity prices that has squeezed manufacturers’ margins.