Evy Hambro, head of investment at the BlackRock Natural Resources Team, told Bloomberg Television that electric vehicles are in a good position to capture market share from traditional cars.
Hambro said that the auto industry is approaching the inflection point, and the prices of electric vehicles provided by mainstream suppliers are lower than in the past. The automotive industry has not found a more ideal battery chemistry, and this technology will continue to develop in the next few years.
Hambro said that in the next 10 years, the demand for raw materials for the currently dominant technology will be very strong. As electric vehicle sales rebound, lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite will all benefit.
Earlier in mid-November, according to data from Standard & Poor's S & P Global Market Intelligence, exploration spending in the mining industry rose to nearly $ 10 billion for the second consecutive year as the industry shifted from caution to growth and prepared to respond to electric vehicles Rising demand for copper and other base metals has boosted.
The exploration value of cobalt and lithium for electric vehicle rechargeable batteries rose by 82% in 2018, but spending is still only a fraction of gold or base metals. The number of companies and entities engaged in mining project exploration rebounded to approximately 1,651 in 2018, the first increase in the number of exploration companies in six years.
Even so, this number is still about a third lower than in 2012. Mining exploration companies' equity market funding is still limited. Mark Ferguson, deputy director of global metals and mining research at Standard & Poor's, said rising metal prices and higher profit margins since 2016 have stimulated producers to expand their exploration efforts.
According to Aberdeen Standard Investments, the safety factor for mining exploration and project spending is getting higher and higher.
Industry observers are studying satellite imagery for clues about Rio Tinto's project to find copper in remote areas of Western Australia. Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques said Rio Tinto is studying valuable mining asset targets.