NICKEL MINING IN B.C.
By: Scott Bahr
When Tesla CEO Elon Musk talks, people tend to listen, and when Musk recently mused about the importance of mining nickel, B.C. took note. Musk said: “I’d just like to re-emphasize any mining companies out there, please mine more nickel. Wherever you are in the world, please mine more nickel and don’t wait for nickel to go back to some high point that you experienced some five years ago or whatever, go for efficiency.”
Well, B.C. got that memo. As Bit Service is dedicated to always keeping you informed on what is happening in the mining industry, we wanted to fill you in on the exciting things happening with nickel mining in B.C. Based on recent news, B.C. is experiencing a boom, with commodity prices experiencing an uptick and nickel entering a super cycle. Suffice to say, the future of nickel exploration is looking bright.
INCREASED USAGE
The love of all things electric is a popular trend right now, and it isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, the demand is higher than ever as the electric vehicle (E.V.) market especially continues to grow, bringing along with its evolution the increased demand for renewable energy and minerals associated with it, including nickel.
The Financial Post pointed out that “the transition to a global electrified clean energy economy is going to result in a monumental draw on metals and minerals from the Earth’s crust.” And with increased usage (demand) comes increased pricing.
COMMODITY PRICE INCREASE BRINGS IT BACK HOME
Luckily for us here in Canada, British Columbia is known for having significant nickel deposits, which means that B.C. is perfectly poised for taking advantage of this new development in increasing commodity price. The Financial Post reported it best when Peter Tertzakian said, “Another commodity super cycle is coming—this time driven by renewable energy and E.V.s.”
THE BRIGHT FUTURE OF NICKEL MINING IN B.C.
The demand is high, with car companies investing billions of dollars in order to roll out new models. E.V. sales are currently at all-time highs and are only expected to grow. This is excellent news for B.C. and its nickel mining industry because these growth expectations are directly impacting the resource sector, with analysts calling for an inevitable “commodity super cycle” to come.
And where will B.C. fit into all of this? Front and center, as B.C. offers numerous advantages for conducting mining operations, thanks to its ample amount of already operating mines, its excellent infrastructure, its power and experienced exploration, and its supporting services.
In fact, one article called B.C. miners as the new “saviours in green transition,” pointing to the fact that “greening the grid will be a massive undertaking, requiring new forms of power generation — wind, solar and nuclear — thousands of kilometres of new transmission lines and power storage — all of which will require a small planet’s worth of copper, iron, cobalt, aluminum, lithium, and rare earths — virtually every kind of mineral and metal found in the earth’s crust.” And that means nickel, too. This all points to blue skies for the B.C. mining industry, all thanks to the world moving to go green.