The Northern Miner May 30 2022 Issue 11

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Osisko VP Maggie Layman on the roots of exploration success | Mining Legends Speaker Series kicks off in Vancouver

EVENTS

Maggie Layman, left, with Ross Beaty, chairman of Equinox Gold, at the Mining Legends Speaker Series in Vancouver. THE NORTHERN MINER

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Metals scarcity could slow energy transition VRIC

| Solar power growth to drive silver demand

BY HENRY LAZENBY

W

hile the movement to an electrified future is already picking up pace, it will be much slower than some of the optimistic projections in the market today, CPM Group founder and managing director Jeffrey Christian told an industry event in Vancouver. He took silver as a prime example, pointing out that hundreds of millions more ounces of silver would need to be produced to keep up with projected growth, including from solar energy uses. “Solar power has gone from virtually no silver use twenty-five years ago to about 120 million ounces a year now, and that’s going to continue to grow,” he said during the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference on May 17. Christian has seen many “overly optimistic expectations” of how fast the green revolution can come. The precious metals and commodities expert cited the International Energy Agency (IEA), projecting that by 2050 the primary source of energy for humankind will still be oil. The second largest will be natural gas. “And all renewables combined will have supplanted coal only after 2040 to be the third largest,” he told the

“SOLAR POWER HAS GONE FROM VIRTUALLY NO SILVER USE TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO TO ABOUT 120 MILLION OUNCES A YEAR NOW, AND THAT’S GOING TO CONTINUE TO GROW.” JEFFREY CHRISTIAN CPM GROUP FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR

conference. “The IEA and everybody else who’s sober knows that those governments have not lived up to their Paris Accord commitments, and really have no ability to live up to those. It’s an idealistic scenario. It’s just not there now,” he said. According to Christian, solar power will continue to grow exponentially. Even if the market successfully recycles significantly more silver from end-of-life panels, the world will need substantially more silver to cover the gap.

“Recycling will slow the growth rate of new silver required by the industry, but it won’t slow the growth rate of total silver used in the industry,” said Christian. “While silver goes into EV electronics, there are other constraints to the green revolutions such as the world not having enough clean energy to power the vehicles with, the grids are not stable enough, there’s not enough lithium, high-purity nickel, verifiable cobalt and manganese, and there’s not enough capital for the smaller companies that actually make these components and mine the stuff.” Jim Lewis, the co-founder of Wall Street Silver’s popular news site, provided some more context. “The figure that Mr. Christian used of 120 million ounces silver used in solar today accounts for only 2% of our electric grid being powered by solar. Various governments worldwide are mandating 10% or even 20% coming from wind and solar soon,” he said. “Let’s assume that silver solar power grows five-fold over some period of time. That means that solar power would be using half a billion ounces. And total demand is currently a billion ounces. This is sort of pie in the sky-type of stuff,” he said. TNM

T

BY BLAIR MCBRIDE AND AMANDA STUTT

he Mining Legends Speaker Series kicked off with an inaugural in-person event in Vancouver featuring mining entrepreneur and Canadian Mining Hall of Fame inductee Ross Beaty and rising talent Maggie Layman, vice-president exploration of Osisko Development (TSXV: ODV). Organized by The Northern Miner, the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame and Young Mining Professionals, the series pairs CMHF inductees with accomplished young talent to bridge the knowledge gap in the mining industry and give the audience a chance to ask questions, share knowledge and discuss the future of mining. What follows are excerpts from Layman’s remarks at the sold-out event, which attracted 100 delegates. Tickets to the next Speaker Series event in Toronto on June 8 with mining legend Pierre Lassonde and Orix Geoscience president, CEO and cofounder Ashley Kirwan are now available. Layman is the recipient of the Young Mining Professionals’ prestigious Eira Thomas Award. She led Barkerville Gold’s technical team on the Cariboo project from exploration through to feasibility and its drill programs for over seven years. Prior to joining Osisko Development, Layman worked as a drill manager and a project geologist for Vale.

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Anthony Vaccaro, president of the Northern Miner Group, kicked off the conversation by asking Layman how a famous quotation from Mark Twain applies to her life. “’The two most important days See MAGGIE LAYMAN / 16 PM40069240


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