The dawn of the electrical age coincided with a virtuous circle of mineral abundance, with newly invented electrolytic refining techniques and newly exploited mega-mines like Chuquicamata helping satisfy Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse’s demand for copper wiring, dynamos and transformers. There is a prospect now that this latest energy transition may coincide with a vicious cycle, where political resistance prevents the exploitation of the very copper needed to wean the world off fossil fuels. On the basis of one estimate, if we are to satisfy that demand in the coming decades we may
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