As the world’s largest copper producer, the country should benefit from a boom in demand for battery metals.
(Photo: Reuters)
Zurich, Santiago, Johannesburg, New Delhi The war in Ukraine has once again shown Europe’s dependency on raw materials. Experts fear that with the breakthrough of electromobility, this could intensify.
After all, metals that are critical for the battery industry, such as copper, nickel or cobalt, are far rarer on the European continent than oil and gas deposits. The main component of batteries, lithium, has not yet been mined on a large scale in Europe.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) warns: “The transition to a clean energy system will increase the demand for these minerals enormously.” The dependence on raw material imports will remain, even if fossil fuels lose importance.
Benjamin Louvet, fund manager and expert for industrial metals at the asset manager OFI, is convinced: “We have to completely reorganize our foreign trade relations.” This is the only way to secure the supply of critical minerals in the long term.
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