The Copper Cliff

It’s one of the first metals human beings ever mined, and the first to be smelted, cast into molds, and alloyed with another metal. And today, copper has become just as important to humankind as it was to those early Sumerian, Egyptian, and Roman civilizations. But why is it so critical, and why do we need so much of it?

In this episode of Why We Mine, presented by Teck, host Robin Stickley explores copper’s pivotal role in the green energy transition, and why we need to mine more of it in the next 30 years than we have in the past 5,000. With the help of Professor Shaun Barker, the Director of the Mineral Deposit Research Unit at the University of British Columbia, and Tyler Mitchelson, a Senior Vice President at Teck, Robin also learns why copper is so unique, what the mining industry is doing to meet the growing need, and why this is a challenge we can’t simply recycle our way out of.