Categories: Energy Stocks
Topics: Lithium Stocks

Battery Metals Profit-Windfall in 2023: Lithium & Copper

Jerome has spoken once again and, true to recent form, has again raised rates (now at a 22-year high) into an economic slowdown with rising inflation. I’m sure it’ll be alright.

I’m also sure that, regardless of what Jerome does or doesn’t do, there’s a lot of money to be made in the battery metals space. Instead of worrying about fighting the Fed, speculators should be worried about fighting the trend that is – as Nick Hodge once coined it – the electrification of everything.

Consider this. The global electricity grid needs to double by 2050 to meet net-zero targets with an estimated cost of roughly US$20 trillion to achieve that.

The Oregon Group recently published a report stating that 427Mt of copper will be needed by 2050. That’s more than 8 times as much as wind turbines, solar panels, and energy storage combined.

That same report highlighted that, to meet that target, annual investment will need to increase from US$274 billion in 2022 to US$1 trillion by 2050. This year, global annual spending is expected to increase to US$300 billion.

McKinsey & Company says that, for the world to meet its net-zero emissions targets, it will be short 50Mt of copper by 2030. That’s not a little bit.

The electrification of grids around the world is going to accelerate the need for battery metals like copper, aluminum, nickel, and lithium. These aren’t wants, these are needs. 

This as supply continues to tighten. 

Copper is expected to have a supply shortfall by as much as 9.9Mt by 2035. 
Discoveries of significance continue to decline, and geopolitical uncertainty has led to substantial supply disruptions; disruptions that are not likely to abate any time soon.

According to Statistica, of the 20Mt of copper produced in 2020, more than half were from nations categorized as “Unstable” or “Extremely Unstable.”

The same perfect storm that developed in the lithium space is playing out in the copper space. 

There is going to be a lot of money made in the coming years from the battery metals, and I plan on taking full advantage of it.

Gerardo Del Real
Editor, Daily Profit Cycle