June 14, 2018

At the Arctic Energy and Emerging Technologies Conference in Inuvik, Tuesday, the talk turned to ‘technology metals’.

“It’s a relatively new term,” ITI’s Assistant Deputy Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Pamela Strand acknowledged as she began the conversation.

But it’s a growing global conversation in which the NWT will feature prominently.

Technology metals are those generally rare metals that are essential for the production of ‘high tech’ devices and engineered systems. They include: cobalt, uranium, silver, Rare Earth Metals, lithium and bismuth.

They are needed for the mass production of miniaturized electronics and associated devices, electricity storage devices like batteries, and the generation of electricity using ‘alternative’ sources such as solar panels and wind turbines.

Obviously, the global demand for technology and technology metals is growing. And it’s only going to get stronger.

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Take car batteries as a single example. Various countries have set timelines to ban the sales of new gas and diesel vehicles – France (2040), UK (2040) India (2030), and Norway (2025). China already leads the world with 40% of global electric cars sales.

In Nevada, Tesla is constructing a factory that will one day build enough batteries to power 500,000 Tesla electric vehicles each year. It will require at least 7,000 additional tonnes of cobalt each year.

Low-carbon technologies will play a critical role in defining commodity marketplace for the next 50 years. In fact, the World Bank estimates a significant impact on the mineral sector due to the continuing boom of low-carbon energy technologies.

And, with a vast, largely unexplored land and dozens of showings of lithium and cobalt, the NWT is an attractive locale with massive potential to fulfill future demand.

Strand says her message to industry is simple: “You can invest in extracting resources anywhere. But if you want to do it with security in a territory where your investment will empower a people and inspire a future... come invest in the NWT. We are a politically stable, secure jurisdiction with the minerals to power the clean economy of the future.”

Already, the NWT is experiencing a rebound in mineral claim staking.