Just obtaining a permit takes a remarkably long time
have always mattered. Without the iron ore and copper they unearth, there would be no steel to build with and no wiring to carry electric power. Today miners have an extra responsibility., it will need 6.5bn tonnes of metals between now and 2050, according to the Energy Transitions Committee, a think-tank—and not just lithium, cobalt and nickel, the much-talked-about, but steel, copper and aluminium, too.
Official rhetoric goes to great lengths to underline how much politicians value critical metals. America wants to stockpile them in case foreign supplies are imperilled, much as it has amassed a huge emergency reserve of crude oil. Its Mineral Security Partnership seeks to work with allies to secure resources and channel investment into the extraction of metals. Other countries have devised their own critical-minerals strategies.
But all this work is being undermined by resource nationalism and misguided environmentalism. One obvious problem is that many countries want control over their resources, even at the expense of driving private investment away. Last year Chile announced plans for a state-owned company to produce lithium. Others, including Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Mexico and Namibia, are charging sky-high royalties, implementing export bans and indulging in other forms of state intervention.
A last complication is the multiplication of rules in different jurisdictions. The hotch-potch of standards raises the cost of building new mines. These sometimes require peripheral infrastructure like desalination plants, which can cost $1bn a time. Anglo American, a global miner, has to meet at least nine different standards for ethical practices around the world, for instance, some of which may be inconsistent with each other.
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