That boom, however, relies on the mining of critical and rare earth minerals. 

• Lithium One of these minerals is lithium. As electric cars are adopted by the mass market, the demand for lithium is expected to double by 2025. In 2017, battery-grade lithium was USD $9 100 per tonne. Today it’s USD $13 000 per tonne. The price is set to continue to rise with demand.  The term lithium-ion battery is a bit deceiving. Only one component of these batteries actually contain lithium. There are three other critical minerals commonly used in lithium-ion batteries: graphite, cobalt, and nickel.

• Graphite Lithium-ion batteries actually contain 40 times more graphite than they do lithium. The high-quality graphite that’s in demand costs between $1,150-1,750 per tonne. As the demand grows, prices will follow. At the moment, China supplies 80% of the world’s graphite. This makes countries like South Korea, Japan, the US, and the EU nervous. Their tech-driven economies rely on graphite imports from a country with which they all have their fair share of diplomatic tension.

• Cobalt Cobalt is another important component of lithium-ion batteries, so of course, it is a critical mineral for the major tech economies. Cobalt is expected to reach $45,000 per tonne in 2021. While this may seem high, it’s likely to go much higher. Prior to the GFC, it was worth $110 000 per tonne. It’s expensive for a few reasons. First, cobalt can only be found in a handful of places around the world. While there are small deposits in countries like Australia, China, and Canada, more than half comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This country has a track record for human rights abuses, particularly around child labour in cobalt mining.Tech companies that use cobalt from DRC cop public backlash so market leaders like Tesla are determined on buying their cobalt from more ethical sources, even if it comes at a premium price.

• Copper and nickel Copper is another key component of energy storage technology and electric cars in short supply due to years of underinvestment. Electric cars use twice the copper that internal combustion engines do. Companies like Freeport-McMoRan Inc are now feverishly expanding their copper mines through the US and Indonesia to keep up with demand.While nickel has historically been bought up by economies that produce low-quality stainless steel, the market seems to be shifting. Lithium-ion battery manufacturers are now using eight times the amount of nickel as they are for other minerals like cobalt.Although it’s not on many critical mineral lists, trends suggest that nickel could become more in demand during the battery boom. Since the GFC, there has been little exploration and development of new sources of nickel. While nickel is currently $12 000 per tonne, this price is likely to go up as the supply chain depletes and companies rush to find new nickel deposits.

• Rare earth elements Of the 17 rare earth elements, dysprosium is one of the most in-demand. It’s critical for magnets in electric cars and wind turbines. Dysprosium hit its record price in 2011 at $2262 per kilogram. Today, it sits around $235 per kilogram. It’s likely to come along for the energy storage boom too due to its critical status.A staggering 99% of the world’s dysprosium is produced in China. Such a lack of competition is never good news so tech-based economies, especially the US, are desperate to secure a supply from literally anywhere else.