World Bank launches $50M fund to support clean mining

The World Bank introduced a $50 million fund dedicated to making mineral mining climate-smart and sustainable, the bank said on Wednesday. The fund will help resource-rich developing countries extract and process minerals and metals used in clean energy technologies, such as wind and solar power and batteries for energy storage and electric vehicles, in a sustainable way that minimizes the environmental and climate footprint. The deployment of the investment is planned over a five-year timeframe. As part of the process, governments will be assisted to build a robust policy, regulatory and legal framework that promotes climate-smart mining and creates an enabling environment for private capital, the bank said. Global demand for minerals such as lithium, graphite and nickel will surge by 965%, 383% and 108%, respectively by 2050, assuming that countries will reduce emissions to keep global warming below 2 degrees, the bank estimated. Projects eligible for funding include those supporting the integration of renewable energy into mining operations, supporting the strategic use of geological data for a better understanding of strategic mineral endowments, forest-smart mining and reusing minerals in a way that respects the environment.