The copper exploration site on China’s Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
The demand for copper “is crucial for technologies such as solar energy and wind energy onshore e offshoreas well as for the manufacture of electric vehicles”, recalls the expert.
Chinese authorities announced this Monday the recent discovery of 20 million tons of copper in Tibetwhich could make the region a crucial source of that ore.
Four major bases copper resources, identified as Yulong, Duolong, Julong-Jiama and Xiongcun-Zhuno, were identified by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Geological Survey of China on the Tibetan plateau, known as the “roof of the world” and located in the far west of the country .
Quoted by Chinese state television CCTV, ministry experts said the total potential amount of copper in the area can reach 150 million tonspositioning the region as a future global copper resource hub.
Tang Juxinga member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, highlighted the strategic importance of copper as a metal chave in the development and use of green energy.
“The demand for copper is crucial for technologies such as solar energy and onshore and offshore wind energy, as well as for the manufacture of electric vehicles”, explained the expert, highlighting that the increase in Chinese reserves of this resource reinforces the supply chain and ensures the sustainability of the copper sector in the Asian country.
Authorities announced that they will continue to intensify exploration efforts through the use of advanced technologies and strategic projects.
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, also known as the “Third Pole” and 30 times larger than mainland Portugalhas been acquiring increasing economic importance, due to its vast mineral reserves and energy resources.
Last year, China approved a law for the environmental protection of the plateau, the largest in the world, in which certain construction and mining activities will be limited and, in some cases, prohibited.
A frozen water stored on the plateau feeds rivers such as the Ganges, the Indus, the Mekong, the Yangtze and the Yellow River and provides hundreds of millions of people on the Asian continent with water resources for irrigation, consumption and energy.
