Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (NYSE:NAK) (“Northern Dynasty” or the “Company”) comments on a recent research from S&P Global (“S&P”), titled The Future of Copper – Will the impending supply gap derail the energy transition? In the publication on the 14th of July, 2022, all currency numbers are in USD unless otherwise noted.
According to PressReach, the independent report (and corresponding webinar), which is available on S&P’s website[1,] was written in response to growing concern among global authorities and governments that there are insufficient resources of copper – the “metal of electrification” – to support the global goal of Net-Zero Emissions by 2050. S&P assesses that “unless considerable new supply [of copper] is brought online in a timely manner, the Net-Zero Emissions target by 2050 will be short-circuited and remain out of reach.” This is consistent with comments and concerns expressed by Northern Dynasty and other major mining firms and groups.
According to S&P, copper consumption is expected to increase from 25 million metric tons (MMt) per year to roughly 50 MMt by 2035 and even higher by 2050. S&P evaluates two potential scenarios in its report: the “Rocky Road Scenario,” which assumes flat capacity utilization and recycling rates, resulting in a peak supply of 39 MMt; and the “High Ambition Scenario,” which assumes increased production due to mined output and capacity utilization, resulting in a peak supply of 47.3 MMt. The copper supply is insufficient to fulfill the predicted demand in both scenarios.
Ron Thiessen, the CEO and President of Northern Dynasty stated, “It is clear to us that the United States, and the world, are not sufficiently planning to deliver the raw materials that are necessary to improve policy initiatives. This is supported by the S&P conclusions that the expected copper supply cannot meet the demand for copper, even if permitting and construction could be fast-tracked. Politicians, environmental activists, and the public should pay attention to the simple conclusions raised in this report.”
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