Building a net-zero economy is critical, but using fossil fuels still will be necessary for decades to come, said Pierre Lassonde, co-founder of Franco-Nevada on June 8 in Toronto at the Mining Legends Speaker Series, organized by The Northern Miner, the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame and Young Mining Professionals.
“[Oil and gas are] going to be with us for the next 100 years,” Lassonde said at the event, which was moderated by Anthony Vaccaro, president of The Northern Miner Group. “That little cubic centimetre of oil is the most powerful energy intensive unit we have today. There’s no replacement. Until we come up with something better than that we’re not going to move away from oil and gas.”
Lassonde, who is also the CEO of Firelight Investments, added that the “greenification” of the economy, which could happen by 2070 will require reaching a level where 75% of energy needs are met through electricity, up from the current level of 25%. Copper output will have to be doubled to achieve that, he said.
“In the next 20 to 40 years copper and gold will be the place to be,” said Lassonde, who added that as an investor he’s very much looking for copper juniors.
In his wide-ranging interview, Lassonde also offered near-term and long-term outlooks on gold prices.
“I’m bullish long term [but]…I believe we’ll see gold with at least a two-digit number in front of three zeroes, like $10,000 and above sometime in the next seven years,” he said. “I’m not sure we’ll see gold go up a lot this year. The mindset of the hedge funds in the U.S. is that the federal reserve is in control. It’s not, but as long as they believe it is, the gold price won’t move much.”
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