Africa must stake its claim for share of $160bn a year in green metals investment

(miningmx.com) - Unless there’s a doubling in capital expenditure by the world’s mining companies, the world has virtually no chance of limiting global warming to 1.5oC as targeted in the Paris Agreement. That’s the key finding in a June report by Bank of America (BoA), which says mining sector spending on the development of metals production should be $160bn a year instead of the $99.5bn historic average. “Based on the current resource endowment and market balances, we don’t expect the 1.5oC global warming target to be achieved by 2050: 1.7 to 1.8oC looks likely. One solution to resolving shortages and constraints, as ever, lies in investment,” BoA says. What’s required is not the discovery of one or two key ingredients, but a host of metals drawn from every corner of the periodic table. BoA describes them as “metals important for future technologies” – substances critical to making batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and motors to drive solar and wind power generation.