President of ICMM: the demand for lithium and cobalt will be 40 times higher than the current level in the next 30 years.

Rohitesh Dhawan, president of (ICMM) of the International Council of Mining and Metals, said at the 2021 China International Mining Conference that the world is moving towards achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and a series of metals and minerals, including lithium, cobalt, copper, aluminum and zinc, are crucial to future decarbonization technologies.

The world bank estimates that demand for key minerals will increase by 500 per cent over the next 30 years, while demand for lithium and cobalt will grow by as much as 40 times current levels. Switching 30 million cars to new sources of energy in the UK alone would require a doubling of global cobalt production. Without the rational use of minerals and metals, it will be impossible to achieve the goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.