Copper has special currency in the push toward renewable energy and electric cars. As demand for the metal rises, so will thorny dilemmas about what will be destroyed in the name of green energy. Oak Flat, analysts argue, is the most promising new source of copper in the country.
“Decarbonization is going to be much more copper intensive than people realize,” says Chris Berry, an energy metals analyst, with use spiking in batteries, grid infrastructure, and wind turbines. Demand from electric cars alone, which contain up to four times as much copper as gas models, is projected to rise from half a million tons today to as much as 3.3 million tons in 2030. “Copper is the new green,” the Resolution Copper website states.
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