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全世界的“铜荒”日益严重,微生物可以帮助解决这个难题

全世界的“铜荒”日益严重,微生物可以帮助解决这个难题

Thomas Biesheuvel, 彭博社 2022-12-01
一家初创公司有望解决困扰铜业数十年的难题,并且潜力巨大。

图片来源:BARTEK SADOWSKI—BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES

警报声越来越刺耳:全世界的铜荒日益严重。人类从一万年前开始使用铜这种金属,现在对它更加依赖;新矿藏越来越少,但铜行业却一直没有像其他大宗商品行业一样,出现能够促进行业变革的突破性技术。

直到现在,这种情况终于有望改变。

一家美国初创公司称,它解决了困扰铜矿业数十年的难题,可能颠覆全球供应格局。Jetti Resources的发现如果成功,就有望增加数百万吨铜供应,可以满足全球电网、建筑工地和汽车的需求,缩小甚至能够彻底填补供应缺口。

简单来说,Jetti的技术重点关注一种常见矿石,这种矿石有一层薄膜将铜包裹,增加了铜提纯的成本和难度。结果导致数十年来,有大量的铜被丢弃在地表的矿渣堆里,还有许多铜矿藏无法开发。为了解决这个难题,Jetti开发了一种可以破坏包裹层的特种催化剂,使食岩微生物能够释放出铜。

目前,这项技术仍然需要进行大规模验证。但它的巨大潜力吸引了业内最有实力的企业。

据知情人士透露,全球最大的矿业公司必和必拓集团(BHP Group)已经是Jetti的投资者之一,并且与该公司进行了数月谈判,计划在其最重要的铜矿——智利埃斯康迪达铜矿,设立一家试验厂。美国矿业公司Freeport-McMoRan Inc.今年开始在位于亚利桑那州的一座铜矿采用Jetti的技术,而其竞争对手力拓集团(Rio Tinto Group)计划推出一种类似工艺,与其抗衡。

矿业公司正在应对一个日益紧迫的问题。现代社会,铜这种金属无处不在,从手机、电脑到水管和线缆都离不开铜。虽然全球大力脱碳的趋势基于逐步淘汰石油、煤炭等高污染的自然资源,但未来的电气化却需要消耗更多的铜。

尽管铜的作用至关重要,但全世界在未来几十年陷入铜荒的威胁却日益严峻。最优质的矿山日益枯竭,而少数几个新发现的矿山要么所在的位置难以运营,要么多年来项目开发一直遭到反对。

大宗商品市场的历史显示,迫在眉睫的短缺危机通常会刺激新的发现和技术。2010年代,美国的页岩油繁荣颠覆了石油市场,而镍加工技术的突破也彻底改变了供应预期。

然而,在铜行业发现新资源变得越来越不可能,因为铜的开采已经有悠久历史,在现在土耳其和伊朗所在的地区,使用铜的历史至少可以追溯到公元前8,000年。这意味着全世界的大多数优质矿藏都已经被发现和开采;全球20大铜矿中,有超过一半是在一个多世纪之前被发现的。

矿渣堆

但漫长的铜矿开采史也意味着,有大量的金属被丢弃在地面的废石堆当中。

这种现象背后的原因是与采矿业一样历史悠久的一条原则:从地下挖掘出矿石后,提取最容易提取的金属,提取工艺难度过大或者成本过高的矿石则被作为废石抛弃。仅过去十年,就有约4,300万吨铜被开采后并未经过加工,按照目前的价格计算,其价值超过2万亿美元,任何人只要能够成功收回这些财富,就都将获得巨大的机会。

确切地说,随着技术改进或者价格上涨,矿渣再加工并不是一种新概念。只是某些类型的矿石一直无法再加工。技术突破不止带来了矿渣再加工的机会,在地下还有数百万吨无法开采的矿石。

该项技术能否成功,在很大程度上取决于矿业公司设立Jetti的工厂的意愿。Jetti估计,如果技术被行业完全接受,到2040年代,每年就可以增产铜800万吨,超过去年全球铜矿总产量的三分之一。

Jetti的创始人及首席执行官麦克·奥特温表示:“该行业长年累月不断积累废渣材料。二十多年来,人们一直在尝试解决这个问题,但却徒劳无功。”

到目前为止,只有美国亚利桑那州的平托谷铜矿正在使用Jetti的工艺。但该工艺具有光明的前景,因此包括必和必拓在内的全球最大的三家铜矿开采公司都持有该公司的股份。该公司的最新估值为25亿美元。

铜业巨头Freeport表示,公司“今年也已经在亚利桑那州的巴格达铜矿开始商业实现,试用该项技术,并将对结果进行评估,与Jetti继续协商其他合作机会。”

铜矿石

Jetti希望解决的到底是什么问题?

含铜岩石主要有两类。最常见的硫化矿石通常经过粉碎和浓缩,通过火法精炼工艺能够炼出纯铜。但这种方法并不适合氧化矿石。该行业最近一次大规模创新是在20世纪80年代中期,当时行业采用电化学工艺对氧化矿石进行铜提纯,大幅增加了供应。

现在,Jetti计划利用其技术从一种常见硫化矿石中提取铜,这种矿石通过上述两种方法均无法以具有经济性的方式进行加工,因为矿石中的铜含量过低,导致精炼并不划算,而矿石坚硬的、非反应性的覆盖层,导致无法使用低成本的电化学或者“浸出”工艺进行铜提纯。

Jetti与不列颠哥伦比亚大学(University of British Columbia)合作开发的一种化学催化剂,可以突破覆盖层,从而无需高温就能够通过浸出工艺释出铜。

虽然Jetti的工艺是目前最先进的一种,但力拓表示其在实验室试验中也已经解决了这项挑战。力拓还将Nuton技术作为对其投资的小型矿业公司的激励:如果小公司可以成功开发其采矿项目,力拓就将部署Nuton工艺,以提高小公司的盈利能力。今年,力拓已经签署了三份类似协议。

力拓项目的负责人亚当·伯利说:“从回报的规模中能够看出其巨大的潜力。它潜力巨大,必须加以利用。”

力拓希望到这个十年年底,Nuton可以生产约50万吨铜,希望未来该项业务的年产量能够与全球前五大铜矿之一相当。

Freeport、智利国家铜业公司(Codelco)和安托法加斯塔矿业公司(Antofagasta Plc)等大型矿业企业也在各自的铜矿开发内部解决方案,但到目前为止,并没有介绍项目成功状况的太多信息披露。

而且这些解决方案的成就受到限制。技术的重点市场是北美和南美,而且进展取决于技术能否在大型矿山应用。

但对必和必拓而言,该公司愿意与一家小型初创公司讨论全球最大铜矿埃斯康迪达铜矿的未来,足以说明一切。

双方的谈判已经持续了几个月,但据知情人士透露,谈判的关键之一是Jetti坚持要求在铜矿设立和运行自己的工厂。双方还在谈判如何进行利润分成。

与此同时,知情人士称,力拓作为必和必拓在埃斯康迪达铜矿的初级合作伙伴,希望铜矿也可以考虑Nuton技术。

Jetti和必和必拓拒绝就谈判或交易发表意见。

奥特温说:“Jetti的技术是真实存在的。它既不是实验室测试,也不是试点工厂。Jetti的技术已经进行了商业部署。合作伙伴利用我们的工艺将获得巨大的利润,而Jetti也能够得到回报。”(财富中文网)

——詹姆斯·阿特伍德(James Attwood)和马克·伯顿(Mark Burton)对本文亦有贡献。

译者:刘进龙

审校:汪皓

警报声越来越刺耳:全世界的铜荒日益严重。人类从一万年前开始使用铜这种金属,现在对它更加依赖;新矿藏越来越少,但铜行业却一直没有像其他大宗商品行业一样,出现能够促进行业变革的突破性技术。

直到现在,这种情况终于有望改变。

一家美国初创公司称,它解决了困扰铜矿业数十年的难题,可能颠覆全球供应格局。Jetti Resources的发现如果成功,就有望增加数百万吨铜供应,可以满足全球电网、建筑工地和汽车的需求,缩小甚至能够彻底填补供应缺口。

简单来说,Jetti的技术重点关注一种常见矿石,这种矿石有一层薄膜将铜包裹,增加了铜提纯的成本和难度。结果导致数十年来,有大量的铜被丢弃在地表的矿渣堆里,还有许多铜矿藏无法开发。为了解决这个难题,Jetti开发了一种可以破坏包裹层的特种催化剂,使食岩微生物能够释放出铜。

目前,这项技术仍然需要进行大规模验证。但它的巨大潜力吸引了业内最有实力的企业。

据知情人士透露,全球最大的矿业公司必和必拓集团(BHP Group)已经是Jetti的投资者之一,并且与该公司进行了数月谈判,计划在其最重要的铜矿——智利埃斯康迪达铜矿,设立一家试验厂。美国矿业公司Freeport-McMoRan Inc.今年开始在位于亚利桑那州的一座铜矿采用Jetti的技术,而其竞争对手力拓集团(Rio Tinto Group)计划推出一种类似工艺,与其抗衡。

矿业公司正在应对一个日益紧迫的问题。现代社会,铜这种金属无处不在,从手机、电脑到水管和线缆都离不开铜。虽然全球大力脱碳的趋势基于逐步淘汰石油、煤炭等高污染的自然资源,但未来的电气化却需要消耗更多的铜。

尽管铜的作用至关重要,但全世界在未来几十年陷入铜荒的威胁却日益严峻。最优质的矿山日益枯竭,而少数几个新发现的矿山要么所在的位置难以运营,要么多年来项目开发一直遭到反对。

大宗商品市场的历史显示,迫在眉睫的短缺危机通常会刺激新的发现和技术。2010年代,美国的页岩油繁荣颠覆了石油市场,而镍加工技术的突破也彻底改变了供应预期。

然而,在铜行业发现新资源变得越来越不可能,因为铜的开采已经有悠久历史,在现在土耳其和伊朗所在的地区,使用铜的历史至少可以追溯到公元前8,000年。这意味着全世界的大多数优质矿藏都已经被发现和开采;全球20大铜矿中,有超过一半是在一个多世纪之前被发现的。

矿渣堆

但漫长的铜矿开采史也意味着,有大量的金属被丢弃在地面的废石堆当中。

这种现象背后的原因是与采矿业一样历史悠久的一条原则:从地下挖掘出矿石后,提取最容易提取的金属,提取工艺难度过大或者成本过高的矿石则被作为废石抛弃。仅过去十年,就有约4,300万吨铜被开采后并未经过加工,按照目前的价格计算,其价值超过2万亿美元,任何人只要能够成功收回这些财富,就都将获得巨大的机会。

确切地说,随着技术改进或者价格上涨,矿渣再加工并不是一种新概念。只是某些类型的矿石一直无法再加工。技术突破不止带来了矿渣再加工的机会,在地下还有数百万吨无法开采的矿石。

该项技术能否成功,在很大程度上取决于矿业公司设立Jetti的工厂的意愿。Jetti估计,如果技术被行业完全接受,到2040年代,每年就可以增产铜800万吨,超过去年全球铜矿总产量的三分之一。

Jetti的创始人及首席执行官麦克·奥特温表示:“该行业长年累月不断积累废渣材料。二十多年来,人们一直在尝试解决这个问题,但却徒劳无功。”

到目前为止,只有美国亚利桑那州的平托谷铜矿正在使用Jetti的工艺。但该工艺具有光明的前景,因此包括必和必拓在内的全球最大的三家铜矿开采公司都持有该公司的股份。该公司的最新估值为25亿美元。

铜业巨头Freeport表示,公司“今年也已经在亚利桑那州的巴格达铜矿开始商业实现,试用该项技术,并将对结果进行评估,与Jetti继续协商其他合作机会。”

铜矿石

Jetti希望解决的到底是什么问题?

含铜岩石主要有两类。最常见的硫化矿石通常经过粉碎和浓缩,通过火法精炼工艺能够炼出纯铜。但这种方法并不适合氧化矿石。该行业最近一次大规模创新是在20世纪80年代中期,当时行业采用电化学工艺对氧化矿石进行铜提纯,大幅增加了供应。

现在,Jetti计划利用其技术从一种常见硫化矿石中提取铜,这种矿石通过上述两种方法均无法以具有经济性的方式进行加工,因为矿石中的铜含量过低,导致精炼并不划算,而矿石坚硬的、非反应性的覆盖层,导致无法使用低成本的电化学或者“浸出”工艺进行铜提纯。

Jetti与不列颠哥伦比亚大学(University of British Columbia)合作开发的一种化学催化剂,可以突破覆盖层,从而无需高温就能够通过浸出工艺释出铜。

虽然Jetti的工艺是目前最先进的一种,但力拓表示其在实验室试验中也已经解决了这项挑战。力拓还将Nuton技术作为对其投资的小型矿业公司的激励:如果小公司可以成功开发其采矿项目,力拓就将部署Nuton工艺,以提高小公司的盈利能力。今年,力拓已经签署了三份类似协议。

力拓项目的负责人亚当·伯利说:“从回报的规模中能够看出其巨大的潜力。它潜力巨大,必须加以利用。”

力拓希望到这个十年年底,Nuton可以生产约50万吨铜,希望未来该项业务的年产量能够与全球前五大铜矿之一相当。

Freeport、智利国家铜业公司(Codelco)和安托法加斯塔矿业公司(Antofagasta Plc)等大型矿业企业也在各自的铜矿开发内部解决方案,但到目前为止,并没有介绍项目成功状况的太多信息披露。

而且这些解决方案的成就受到限制。技术的重点市场是北美和南美,而且进展取决于技术能否在大型矿山应用。

但对必和必拓而言,该公司愿意与一家小型初创公司讨论全球最大铜矿埃斯康迪达铜矿的未来,足以说明一切。

双方的谈判已经持续了几个月,但据知情人士透露,谈判的关键之一是Jetti坚持要求在铜矿设立和运行自己的工厂。双方还在谈判如何进行利润分成。

与此同时,知情人士称,力拓作为必和必拓在埃斯康迪达铜矿的初级合作伙伴,希望铜矿也可以考虑Nuton技术。

Jetti和必和必拓拒绝就谈判或交易发表意见。

奥特温说:“Jetti的技术是真实存在的。它既不是实验室测试,也不是试点工厂。Jetti的技术已经进行了商业部署。合作伙伴利用我们的工艺将获得巨大的利润,而Jetti也能够得到回报。”(财富中文网)

——詹姆斯·阿特伍德(James Attwood)和马克·伯顿(Mark Burton)对本文亦有贡献。

译者:刘进龙

审校:汪皓

The warnings keep getting louder: the world is hurtling toward a desperate shortage of copper. Humans are more dependent than ever on a metal we’ve used for 10,000 years; new deposits are drying up, and the type of breakthrough technologies that transformed other commodities have failed to materialize for copper.

Until now.

In what could prove a game changer for global supply, a US startup says it’s solved a puzzle that has frustrated the mining world for decades. If successful, the discovery by Jetti Resources could unlock millions of tons of new copper to feed power grids, building sites and car fleets around the globe, narrowing and possibly even closing the deficit.

At its simplest, Jetti’s technology is focused on a common type of ore that traps copper behind a thin film, making it too costly and difficult to extract. The result is that vast quantities of metal have been left stranded over the decades in mine-waste piles on the surface, as well as in untapped deposits. To crack the code, Jetti has developed a specialized catalyst to disrupt the layer, allowing rock-eating microbes to go to work at releasing the trapped copper.

The technology still needs to be proven on a large scale. But the riches at stake are pulling in some of the industry’s most powerful players.

BHP Group, the biggest mining company, is already an investor and has now spent months negotiating for a trial plant at its crown jewel copper mine, Escondida in Chile, according to people familiar with the matter. US miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. began implementing Jetti’s technology at an Arizona mine this year, while rival Rio Tinto Group is planning to roll out a competing but similar process.

The miners are responding to an increasingly urgent problem. Copper is ubiquitous in the modern world, used in everything from phones and computers to water pipes and cables. And while the global drive to decarbonize is based on phasing out dirty natural resources like oil and coal, an electrified future will need more copper than ever before.

Despite its importance, the world is facing a growing threat of shortages in the coming decades. The best mines are getting old and the few new discoveries are either in difficult places to operate, or face years of opposition to development.

The history of commodity markets shows that looming deficits tend to spur new discoveries and technologies. The US shale boom in the 2010s turned the oil market on its head, while breakthroughs in nickel processing upended supply forecasts.

But new discoveries in copper are increasingly unlikely, given the long history of mining – evidence of copper usage has been traced back to at least 8,000 BC in what is now Turkey and Iraq. That means most of the world’s great deposits have already been found and exploited; more than half the world’s 20 biggest copper mines were discovered more than a century ago.

Waste dumps

Yet the long history of copper mining also means there are massive amounts of metal sitting on the surface in waste dumps.

The reason is a principle as old as mining itself: ore is pulled up from the earth, the easiest metal is extracted, and anything too difficult or expensive to process is tossed aside as waste. Over the past decade alone, an estimated 43 million tons of copper have been mined but never processed, worth more than $2 trillion at current prices, creating huge opportunities for anyone who can successfully recover those riches.

To be sure, it’s not a new concept to reprocess mine waste when technology improves or prices rise. But that just hasn’t been feasible for certain types of ore. And the breakthrough has opportunities far beyond waste dumps – there are millions more tons still underground that haven’t been viable to mine.

Much depends on mining companies’ willingness to install Jetti’s plants. But if the technology becomes fully embraced by the industry, the company estimates that as much as 8 million tons of additional copper could be produced each year by the 2040s – more than one third of last year’s total global mine production.

“The industry has accumulated this waste material forever,” said Jetti’s founder and chief executive officer, Mike Outwin. “They’ve been trying to come up with an answer for it on their own for a couple of decades and haven’t been able to.”

So far Jetti’s process has been running on just one mine, at Pinto Valley in Arizona. But the results have been so promising three of the world’s biggest copper miners — including BHP — have bought stakes in the company. Its latest fundraising was at a valuation of $2.5 billion.

Copper giant Freeport says it has also “initiated a commercial implementation this year at our Bagdad mine in Arizona to trial the technology and will assess the results and continue to dialogue with Jetti on other opportunities to work together.”

Copper ores

So what is the problem that Jetti is seeking to solve?

There are two main kinds of copper-bearing rock. The most common type, sulfide ores, are typically crushed, concentrated, and then turned into pure copper in a fire-refining process. But that method isn’t suitable for oxidic ores, and the industry’s last big innovation came in the mid-1980s when it adapted an electro-chemical process to extract copper from oxide ores, providing a major boost to supply.

Now, Jetti aims to apply its technology to recover copper from a common type of sulfide ore that couldn’t be economically processed via either route — the copper content is too low to justify the cost of refining, while the hard, non-reactive coating prevented the copper from being extracted in the lower-cost electro-chemical or “leaching” process.

Jetti worked with the University of British Columbia to develop a chemical catalyst that breaks through the layer, so that the copper can be released using leaching without the need for high temperatures.

While Jetti’s process is the most advanced, Rio Tinto says it’s also cracked the challenge in lab trials. Rio has been offering its Nuton technology as a sweetener to junior mining companies that it invests in: if the smaller firms successfully develop their mining projects, then Rio will deploy the Nuton process to boost profitability. It’s signed three such deals already this year.

“When you look at the size of the prize, the potential is enormous,” said Adam Burley, who runs the Rio project. “It’s too big to leave on the table.”

Rio wants Nuton to have produced a total of about 500,000 tons of copper by the end of this decade, with hopes that the business may one day produce the annual equivalent of one of the world’s top-five copper mines.

Other major miners including Freeport, Codelco and Antofagasta Plc have all been working on in-house solutions at their own mines, though so far there has been little disclosed information on how successful these projects have been.

And there are limitations to how much can be achieved. The focus is on North and South America, and the progress will depend on whether the technology can be deployed across the major mines.

Yet for BHP, the fact that it is even discussing the future of Escondida, the world’s single biggest source of copper, with a small upstart is telling.

Negotiations have been underway for months, although one of the sticking points in the talks has been Jetti’s insistence that it installs and runs its own plant at the host mine, according to the people familiar with the matter. There are also negotiations about how to split the profits.

Meanwhile, Rio, which is BHP’s junior partner at Escondida, is arguing that it wants the Nuton technology to also be considered, according to people familiar with the matter.

Jetti and BHP declined to comment on the specific negotiations or deals.

“Jetti is very real. It’s not lab tests or pilot plants. Jetti has been deployed commercially,’’ said Outwin. “Our partners will make extraordinary profits from being able to utilize our process, and Jetti will do well.’’

—With assistance from James Attwood and Mark Burton

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