A Resource Challenged Transition

Although future copper shortages are routinely discussed and presumably well known, the problem is mirrored across a wide range of other critical metals and elements, such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium, to name three. In the context of CO2 reduction, we should also bear in mind that natural gas will be a strategically important interim energy supply while renewables, hydrogen and nuclear energy play catch up. Therefore, the search for new gas reserves is likely to continue for at least another decade, as suggested by Wood Mackenzie’s recent forecast that global LNG imports will grow from about 554 billion CBM in 2023 to about 857 billion CBM in 2040. 

Considering the current resource discovery rate and the inevitable decade-long lag between discovery and effective exploitation, there has never been more urgency to explore more efficiently for these raw materials. To meet this rapidly growing demand for key energy transition metals requires effective and rapid exploration. On top of this, there is increasing demand to explore and exploit these resources far more sustainably. To make matters even more complex, some of these strategic reserves are geographically constrained to a limited number of countries. Considering all of these points, airborne geophysical surveying has quickly become one of the most important methods for research and exploitation.