Sprott Conference: Friedland pitches metals used in electric vehicles – by Lesley Stokes (Northern Miner – August 8, 2017)

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VANCOUVER — The electric car revolution is accelerating, and so will the demand for metals that make them work, Robert Friedland, executive chairman of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; US-OTC: IVPAF) said during a presentation at the Sprott Natural Resource Symposium in Vancouver in late July.

In what has become a recurring topic in his presentations, Friedland stated that continued rapid urbanization, combined with efforts to fight air pollution, will lead to the ramping up of electric vehicle production. And the demand for the metals needed to build them — including copper, platinum, palladium, zinc, nickel and cobalt — will rise as a result.

“This is an era of unprecedented change, it’s really happening,” Friedland said. “The handwriting is on the wall. For those of you who deny this phenomenon, you’re going to miss this massive disruption opening soon at a theatre near you.”

“Air pollution isn’t just in China. It’s in Paris, Greece, Madrid and Mexico City,” he said. “In Beijing, the government is on an air pollution jihad. It’s engaging in the largest enterprise ever to clean the air, and they’re going to do it because China is a command economy.”

He noted an electric vehicle currently contains 150 kg of copper — or four times more than a conventional vehicle — and even more copper will be required to electrify developing countries, he said.

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