This post was originally published on this site.
Alberta’s data-centre rush is spilling onto mine development, with E3 Lithium (TSXV: ETL; US-OTC: EEMMF) saying opposition to nearby proposals is tarnishing the goodwill it built for its Clearwater lithium project.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) broke ground in July on a 1-gigawatt AI centre worth more than $13 billion ($9.5 billion) in Sturgeon County, about 35 km northeast of Edmonton. Roughly 200 km south, E3 is advancing one of Canada’s largest battery metal projects, Clearwater near Olds, where separate data-centre plans have stirred concerns over noise, water and industrial growth.
“We have a very strong reputation that’s being tarnished a little bit by the data centres who have come in and not done that proper engagement,” E3 CEO Chris Doornbos told The Northern Miner. “They have just come in and stated what they’re going to do without really listening.”
Artificial intelligence is becoming both customer and rival for mining. Data centres lift demand for copper, lithium, aluminum, uranium and rare earths, but they also draw on the same electricity, workers, equipment and public support for large projects that miners need to supply those materials. Alberta and British Columbia are already changing power rules before fast-moving, hyper-scaling technology companies crowd slower mine projects out of scarce infrastructure.
Metals Pull
AI’s demand prize for mining is substantial. With the International Energy Agency expecting global data-centre electricity use to roughly double to about 950 terawatt-hours by 2030, or close to 3% of world demand, that buildout requires oodles of copper and aluminum.
Data halls, substations, generating plants and transmission lines all need the metals. Backup systems add battery metals, while chips depend on silicon, gallium and other specialty materials.
S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) forecasts copper demand will rise by half to 42 million tonnes in 2040 from 28 million tonnes in 2025. Without large investments in mines, processing and recycling, supply could fall 10 million tonnes short, the research firm told The Northern Miner by email.
Vale Base Metals, the copper and nickel arm of Brazil-based Vale (NYSE: VALE), likewise sees AI as driver for copper demand and nickel to a lesser extent mainly through batteries that provide backup power.
“The rapid growth of AI, cloud computing and hyperscale data centres has added a new structural source of copper demand on top of electrification, renewable energy, grid expansion, defence, robotics and electric vehicles,” Vale Base Metals Chief Technical Officer Chris McCleave said in responses to emailed questions.
Doornbos said some data-centre developers are considering extending battery backup from four hours to eight, which would double the battery capacity needed at those sites. Western battery plants built for stronger electric-vehicle forecasts are already pursuing stationary-storage customers, he said.
Power queue
The Alberta Electric System Operator imposed an interim 1,200-megawatt (MW) limit on large new connections through 2028. The grid operator is now drafting longer-term rules for data centres and other big users, including a system that would favour projects paired with new power generation.
Generation presents the largest bottleneck to serving data centres and traditional industries at the same time, the operator told The Northern Miner by email. It assesses all large users by the power requested and whether the grid can serve them reliably, though it recognizes data centres carry a different risk than established industrial loads.
“Any significant increase in firm load requests, AI or otherwise, impacts the availability of firm power for future requests until new supply is added to the system,” the operator said.
B.C. has made the trade-off explicit. AI and data-centre proposals must compete for as much as 400 MW over two years, while mining, forestry, manufacturing and liquefied natural gas projects remain outside the cap.
BC Hydro judges technology projects by their economic, community, First Nations and environmental benefits, the price users are willing to pay for power and their ability to cut demand when the grid is tight. The utility told The Miner the system is meant to protect capacity for mines and other established industries. It knows of no mining project delayed by a data-centre application.
Tech giant
Meta has assembled dedicated and grid-linked supply for its Alberta project. Capital Power (TSX: CPX) agreed to provide 250 MW for more than 10 years starting in the second half of 2028. Pembina Pipeline (TSX: PPL; NYSE: PBA) and Kineticor are building a 932-MW gas plant dedicated to data-centre customers, reducing the project’s call on the public grid.
Clearwater shows the importance of power even when a data centre has not displaced a mine project. Electric pumps would drive E3’s planned operation and electricity would account for about a third of operating costs, Doornbos said.
E3 completed its power engineering early in anticipation of equipment and connection work taking between three to five years. Suppliers now indicate the company could secure what it needs within a couple of years. Power remains an execution risk, but Doornbos said data-centre growth has not yet materially constrained the project.
The developer is expanding its demonstration plant and completing a feasibility study with as much as $36.5 million in federal support. It aims to have Clearwater ready for construction by mid-next year.
Competing projects
Rivalry for the same resources is to intensify as more industries switch to electricity, Vale’s McCleave said.
“As the electrification trend accelerates, the level of competition is increasing. This could spur higher costs, slow production and delay projects,” McCleave said. “Electricity has become a strategic resource, just like the critical minerals we mine.”
The conflict may strike metal processing before many mines. U.S. aluminum smelters already struggle with high power costs, while large data-centre operators can pay substantially more for firm supply, S&P Global said.
High electricity costs helped drive the decline of U.S. smelting from the 1980s and attempts to rebuild the sector may falter if data centres keep bidding up power, S&P said. Higher grid rates could also weaken mine economics, while competition for electricians, engineers and other skilled workers could raise construction and maintenance costs.
Social credit
Around E3’s Clearwater, community support has become the more immediate conflict. Doornbos said some data-centre proponents entered the Olds area without first listening to residents or adapting their plans. He declined to name them.
E3 spent about a year and a half meeting landowners, community groups and local governments before filing permit applications. That work may not shield it when residents view data centres, mines and other large projects as one wave of industrial development.
“Anytime somebody does something like this, it paints a bad brush over all developments,” Doornbos said. “People look at industry and don’t necessarily tell the difference between you or somebody else.”
Build bubble
Data centres can bring a rush of construction work but employ relatively few people once operating, Kaiser Research Online founder John Kaiser said in an interview. Noise, power demand, water fears and concern over AI-driven job losses can harden local opposition.
“There is a growing anxiety, which is easy to translate into opposition to a local data centre being built,” Kaiser said. “Once these things are built, they also run on minimal human workers.”
Kaiser warned cheaper open-source models may leave some costly data centres as “white elephants.”
At least 20 U.S. data-centre projects worth US$42 billion and requiring 3.5 gigawatts were cancelled in the first quarter after local pushback, The Economist reported in June. The disputes centred on power, transmission lines, noise, water and the limited number of lasting jobs.
Respectful
The conflict will not reach every mining district. Data centres tend to cluster near cities, power lines and gas pipelines, while many explorers work in remote mountain and desert regions, Kaiser said. Slow permits and shortages of rigs, crews and equipment remain more immediate threats for many juniors.
Alberta may have enough gas, land and engineering skill to host both industries. Whether it can add power and preserve public trust fast enough will decide whether AI helps build the mines it needs or makes them harder to develop.
“We all have to approach stakeholder engagement respectfully,” Doornbos said. “If somebody doesn’t, it impacts everybody.”
- With files from Colin McClelland.
