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THE NORTHERN MINER | AUGUST 2026
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AI boom lifts mining while competing for power Data centres challenge mines beyond metal demand
BY HENRY LAZENBY
A
lberta’s data-centre rush is spilling onto mine development, with E3 Lithium (TSXV: ETL; US-OTC: EEMMF) saying opposition to nearby proposals is tarnishing the goodwill it built for its Clearwater lithium project. Facebook owner Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) broke ground in July on a 1-gigawatt AI centre worth more than $13 billion (US$9.5 billion) in Sturgeon County, about 35 km northeast of Edmonton. Roughly 200 km south, E3 is advancing one of Canada’s largest battery metal projects, Clearwater near Olds, where separate data-centre plans have stirred concerns over noise, water and industrial growth. “We have a very strong reputation that’s being tarnished a little bit by the data centres who have come in and not done that proper engagement,” E3 CEO Chris Doornbos told The Northern Miner. “They have just come in and stated what they’re going to do without really listening.” Artificial intelligence is becoming both customer and rival for
mining. Data centres lift demand for copper, lithium, aluminium, uranium and rare earths, but they also draw on the same electricity, workers, equipment and public support for large projects that miners need to supply those materials. Alberta and British Columbia are already changing power rules before fast-moving, hyper-scaling technology companies crowd slower mine projects out of scarce infrastructure. Metals Pull AI’s demand prize for mining is substantial. With the International Energy Agency expecting global data-centre electricity use to roughly double to about 950 terawatt-hours by 2030, or close to 3% of world demand, that buildout requires oodles of copper and aluminium. Data halls, substations, generating plants and transmission lines all need the metals. Backup systems add battery metals, while chips depend on silicon, gallium and other specialty materials. S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) forecasts copper demand will rise by half to 42 million tonnes in 2040 from 28 million tonnes in 2025.
“Electricity has become a strategic resource, just like the critical minerals we mine.” CHRIS MCCLEAVE, VALE BASE METALS CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER
Without large investments in mines, processing and recycling, supply could fall 10 million tonnes short, the research firm told The Northern Miner by email. Vale Base Metals, the copper and nickel arm of Brazil-based Vale (NYSE: VALE), likewise sees AI as a driver for copper demand and nickel to a lesser extent mainly through batteries that provide backup power. “The rapid growth of AI, cloud computing and hyperscale data centres has added a new structural source of copper demand on top of electrification, renewable energy, grid expansion, defence, robotics and electric vehicles,” Vale Base
Metals Chief Technical Officer Chris McCleave said in a response to emailed questions. Doornbos said some data-centre developers are considering extending battery backup from four hours to eight, which would double the battery capacity needed at those sites. Western battery plants built for stronger electric-vehicle forecasts are already pursuing stationary-storage customers, he said. Power queue The Alberta Electric System Operator imposed an interim 1,200-megawatt (MW) limit on large new connections through 2028. The grid operator is now drafting longer-term rules for data centres and other big users, including a system that would favour projects paired with new power generation. Generation presents the largest bottleneck to serving data centres and traditional industries at the same time, the operator told The Northern Miner by email. It assesses all large users by the power requested and whether the grid can serve them reliably, though it recognizes data centres carry a differ-
Why miners earn more | 6
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Artificial intelligence is improving operations, driving demand for metals and increasing pressure on electricity grids. ADOBE IMAGES/GRISPB
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