As municipalities across Cyprus, one after the other, announce plans to become “smart cities”, we take a deep dive into this new model, and specifically what this means for the future of mineral exploration and investment.
Although the term “smart city” has become a buzzword in city planning departments over the past few years, it is often little understood. Essentially, smart cities are urban areas that have become more efficient and/or more socially inclusive and/or more environmentally friendly through the use of smart technologies.
Smart cities collect data through different types of electronic methods and sensors, about all kinds of things, including traffic, air and water quality, and solar radiation. In this way, local authorities gain useful insights that help them solve the urban problems of housing, transportation, energy, and accessibility, as well as promoting sustainability. Examples of smart city applications include air quality monitoring; water and wastewater monitoring; smart traffic lights that use analytics to reduce congestion; and street lighting control and monitoring to save on utility costs.
Over the past couple of years, the Municipalities of Nicosia, Paphos and Limassol have at different times, announced that they will invest in urban technology in an effort to make their cities smarter. The use of advanced technologies and innovation to address pressing urban challenges is gradually becoming a priority for Cypriot cities, as they seek to improve the quality of life of their communities as well as reducing emissions. This move goes hand in hand with the widespread adoption of 5G by the country, which is able to take the creation of smart cities from the theoretical to the practical by ensuring high-speed connectivity, low-latency, better battery life and the ability to handle a massive number of connections. In this context, copper plays a crucial role.
Copper: the material of choice for smart city infrastructure
According to Peter van der Borgh, an accomplished exploration geologist and Managing Director of Venus Minerals, a Cyprus-based mining and exploration company, the smart cities of the near future require the construction of new infrastructure, built with sustainable and durable materials, such as copper. van der Borgh told us that copper is at the heart of this revolution due to its high thermal and electrical conductivity, which makes it a key material for the development of smart grids, EV charging infrastructure, 5G optical fibres, plumbing, lighting and roofing of buildings, among other things.
Accordingly, demand for the metal is expected to almost double cumulatively over the next seven years as cities around the world adopt smart city initiatives. Specifically, according to a recent global study conducted by the Martec Group, the total volume of copper in smart city technology is predicted to rise from 2.7 million tonnes in 2019 to 4.8 million tonnes in 2025.
Peter van der Borgh, explained that “countries around the world are starting to think about cities as systems rather than a collection of parts in an effort to become more efficient, resilient and safe, as well as more environmentally friendly. With almost two thirds of the world’s growing population expected to be living in cities by 2050, there is an urgent need to improve their sustainability and efficiency. Therefore, since copper is indispensable for a wide range of smart city applications, demand for the metal is expected to soar even more than it already has.”
As he pointed out, “copper prices keep breaking records because of the green energy transition.” This comes at a time when analysts are realising that the mining industry is faced with a looming supply crunch, as it would need to produce an extra 1m tonnes of the metal a year in order to meet governments’ net-zero emission targets.
According to van der Borgh, in this environment of rising demand and dwindling copper deposits, “Cyprus can play a key role in the production of the red metal and hence the transition to smart cities, as it has significant high-grade copper deposits.” It should be noted that Venus Minerals has recently announced that its Magellan Project in the North Troodos, is estimated to have a combined resource inventory of 9.5 million tons at 0.65 per cent of copper with additional value from gold, silver and zinc.
