{"id":1171259,"date":"2020-03-12T11:33:56","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T17:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1016901"},"modified":"2020-03-12T11:33:56","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T17:33:56","slug":"disruption-the-new-normal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1171259","title":{"rendered":"Disruption: The new normal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What was surprising about the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference this year was how many people actually showed up, with Covid-19 ripping around the world. <\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to figures from Johns Hopkins\u2019 Coronavirus Resource Centre on March 10, 118,101 people have been infected and 4,262 have died.<\/p>\n<p>While many conferences and large gatherings elsewhere have been cancelled, the March 1-4 Toronto-based mining show carried on, whether people really wanted to be there or not. <\/p>\n<p>Attendance dipped just 10% to 23,144 people, 2,699 fewer than the 25,843 who attended in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of the event, I only spotted two people wearing facemasks, and, as far as I know, only Rob McEwen of McEwen Mining decided not to give a scheduled presentation, while another speaker, Nicky Shiels, a commodity strategist at Scotiabank in New York, stayed home and delivered her presentation by video-conference.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Bristow of Barrick Gold and Robert Friedland of Ivanhoe Mines turned up as planned to deliver keynote speeches, and Canada\u2019s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an appearance for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n<p>Friedland, who also attended a special pre-PDAC Red Cloud event on Feb. 28, used both occasions to talk about the massive disruption we face with the pivot to the electrification of all things, and the enormous opportunities it presents to miners exploring for and extracting \u2018green\u2019 metals like copper, nickel, PGMs and rhodium.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p> \u201cYou have to start thinking about what real electrification means,\u201d  <\/p>\n<p><cite> Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe Mines  <\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cYou have to start thinking about what real electrification means,\u201d he declared at the Red Cloud luncheon. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re entering an era of electric everything and this is super-intensive for the metals I\u2019m talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the many imperatives behind electrification is that air pollution associated with massive urbanization is the \u201cgreatest environmental risk to global health,\u201d Friedland said, noting that air pollution masks are now a $4 billion market and, \u201cif you\u2019re going to get a mask, get a good one.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The mine developer and financier pointed to a 2017 study published in The Lancet medical journal that drew a correlation between dementia rates and people living close to heavy traffic and inhaling fumes from cars and trucks with internal combustion engines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis explosion of dementia is linked to fine-grained particulates that get into your head and never come out and this is serious stuff and this scientific understanding has just happened,\u201d he warned. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLife is hard \u2014 it\u2019s harder if you\u2019re stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to its role in fighting climate change, copper also will become essential in the control of infectious diseases like Covid-19, Friedland predicted. <\/p>\n<p>With its anti-microbial properties, the metal will be employed increasingly as a virus and super-bug killer. As an example of one application, he pointed to Israel\u2019s Argaman Technologies. <\/p>\n<p>The company has engineered copper oxide into 100% cotton fibre that it is developing for use in everything from hospital uniforms to hotel linens and face masks.<\/p>\n<p>The Jerusalem-based company ultrasonically blasts enhanced copper-oxide particles into its CottonX material and claims the copper oxide in the fabric can kill 99% of the bacteria and viruses with which it comes into contact.<\/p>\n<p>Sonovia, another Israeli company, infuses antiviral, antimicrobial zinc and copper oxide nanoparticles into textiles for facemasks and other protective devices.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, the world should be thankful for junior mining companies, which are leading the way in finding new deposits of green metals essential in the electric vehicle and grid storage industries, he declared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we don\u2019t have junior mining companies we wouldn\u2019t have anything \u2026 I can assure you the majors couldn\u2019t find a mine if their lives depended on it \u2026 [and] without funding the junior companies you can\u2019t get there from here. \u2026 There is not going to be an Elon Musk without junior mining companies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tesla\u2019s market cap has surged to more than $119 billion and the company \u201ccan buy Ford for breakfast and be hungry for lunch,\u201d Friedland continued, adding that according to the International Copper Association, copper demand for electric cars alone should rise 900% between now and 2027.<\/p>\n<p>Friedland also cited stats from consulting firm Wood Mackenzie that about $240 billion will be needed to meet growing metals demand in the next five years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got a big disruption coming here,\u201d he warned. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe oil price is down and they haven\u2019t a clue. They are like deer caught in the headlights. So now comes the Revenge of the Miners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>(This article first appeared in&nbsp;<\/em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"The Northern Miner (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.northernminer.com\/editorial\/disruption-the-new-normal\/1003814784\/\" ><em>The Northern Miner<\/em><\/a><em>&nbsp;on March 11, 2020)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Electrification of all things presents enormous opportunities to miners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2648,624,2849,369,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1171259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1171261,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171259\/revisions\/1171261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1171259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1171259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1171259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}