2023-07-12 00:04:39
The market for critical minerals needed for the energy transition has doubled in size over the past five years. But the supply is still concentrated in the already dominant countries, according to an annual report by the International Energy Agency.
The concentration of mineral supply is one of the concerns of the International Energy Agency (whose report is to consult here): the share of the three main producers is still just as high, even increasing. This is the case for nickel and cobalt in particular, two of the major minerals in which the organization is interested, alongside lithium and copper, which are also used in the construction of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and panels. solar.
The dominant countries are even more so when it comes to refining. China holds half of the lithium processing plant projects and Indonesia nearly 90% of the nickel refining facility projects. A distribution that is unlikely to change by 2030, notes the IEA.
galloping growth
Over the past five years, the demand for lithium has tripled, while that for cobalt has increased by 70%, and that for nickel by 40%. This demand has boosted investments, which increased by 30% last year. Spending was driven in particular by record growth in lithium exploration.
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Unavoidable China has multiplied investments in this ore to guarantee the supply of its refining plants. Between 2018 and the first half of 2021, Chinese companies invested $4.3 billion, double the amount invested by American, Australian and Canadian companies combined during the same period.
Rising global investment is good news for the IEA, as it could allow supply to match countries’ clean energy ambitions by 2030. But states must do much better to limit global warming to 1.5°C in line with the Paris Agreement target. Especially since it is likely, according to the IEA, that some mining projects are falling behind schedule.
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