Mining Digital June 2024 | Page 72

SUPPLY CHAINS & OPERATIONS functionality to 40 cars , powers 100,000 mobile phones , enables operations in 400 computers and distributes electricity to 30 homes .
But copper production cannot simply be cranked up to meet soaring demand . Any new copper mine that came online within the past three years had an average lead time of 23 years from discovery to production .
“ There ’ s a longer-term issue around the supply of copper in the energy transition industry , because the growth in both the automotive and transmission is going to be huge ,” says Robin Griffin , Metals & Mining Research VP at Wood Mackenzie , a provider of data and analytics for the energy transition .
“ We ’ re already forecasting major deficits in copper up to 2030 ,” he added . “ Anytime there ’ s political unrest it has a whole range
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