alled the “rock-to-metal ratio,” the new metric indicates how much ore and waste must be mined, moved and processed to produce a given unit of a mineral commodity.
The popularity of electric vehicles has driven prices for battery metals sharply higher, even sparking fears of shortages of materials like lithium, cobalt and nickel.
Half the projects needed to plug copper’s 6 million tonne long term supply gap will have to come from uncommitted, speculative greenfield projects – and history suggests few ever become mines.