Mining Mindset: Brian Savage - We need to be disrupting everything…

Brian Savage started his career at 17 in a surface coal mine in West Virginia. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering with a minor in coal from the Colorado School of Mines, working underground coal operations during his summers. He later returned for a master's degree in Mineral Economics, writing his thesis on valuing gold mining companies - a turning point that shifted his trajectory away from coal.

As a mine engineer at the Bank of New York, Savage evaluated coal, copper, and other mineral assets. At the Bank of Montreal, where the portfolio leaned heavily into coal financing, he became involved in gold lending to Nevada operations. The gold loan business proved highly profitable, eventually placing $500 million in gold loans on the bank's books. This period marked his transition from coal-focused work into broader mineral asset evaluation.

About ten years ago, after sitting in on an early Tesla presentation while the company was still private, Savage recognized the enormous demand for metals that electrification would create. Working in the Congo at the time, he was already evaluating lithium assets alongside tin, tantalum, and tungsten - metals he initially called "technology metals" before the industry adopted the term "critical minerals." Manganese became his entry point into the battery and vehicle electrification space.

Savage's interest in blockchain grew out of his work with conflict minerals in the Congo. In the early 2010s, legislation designated tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold from the Congo and surrounding regions as conflict minerals requiring traceability. The system at the time was paper-based and easily corrupted.

When blockchain technology emerged around 2013-2014, primarily through Bitcoin, Savage saw its potential for mineral traceability. This led to the creation of Centrifuge, a venture focused on buying coltan from artisanal miners, upgrading it, and using blockchain to manage the traceability process through the supply chain.

However, the initiative faced significant headwinds. While consumers and brands demanded traceability, nobody wanted to pay for it. The cost burden inevitably fell on the artisanal miners the system was designed to protect. Meanwhile, advocacy groups filed lawsuits against major brands like Intel and Google, spending resources on legal battles rather than direct support for miners.

The timing was also challenging. In 2017, blockchain hype led to a wave of poorly executed projects that damaged the technology's credibility. By 2018, when Centrifuge was seeking traction, a backlash against blockchain made fundraising and adoption difficult. A USAID-funded workshop on tracking artisanal gold from the Congo rejected their blockchain proposal partly due to residual skepticism from the previous year's failures.

Savage notes that some companies have gained minor traction using blockchain in mining, particularly in diamond tracking and high-value asset verification. But adoption remains far from mainstream. The technology works well for traceability - clicking a button to record each transfer is not technically difficult - but the industry still struggles with competing blockchain platforms, transaction costs, and the fundamental question of who pays for implementation.

According to Savage, the electrification trend is irreversible regardless of government policy. Scooters, motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, and even helicopters are being electrified. Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft already exist, and hybrid airplane development is underway - Savage recently toured an aircraft company building one at a benchmark minerals conference.

The battery market currently splits between two main chemistries. Nickel manganese cobalt batteries offer longer range but cost more, making them the preferred choice in North America where range anxiety drives purchasing decisions. Lithium iron phosphate batteries are less expensive but have shorter range - they power about 60% of electric vehicles in China. The industry is now working to incorporate manganese into LFP batteries to improve performance.

The target for mass adoption is a $30,000 vehicle with 300-mile range. Achieving this requires advances in battery energy density - the power-per-kilogram ratio must increase substantially, especially for aviation applications. For aircraft, the requirement may push toward a thousand kilowatt-hours per kilogram, likely starting with hybrid configurations that use battery power for cruising while relying on conventional fuel for energy-intensive takeoff and landing.

Battery plant construction costs create long technology cycles. A $3 billion NMC battery plant will not switch chemistries for five to ten years, meaning current investments lock in particular technologies regardless of innovations happening in laboratories. Sodium-ion batteries and other alternatives are under development, but deployed infrastructure changes slowly.

Beyond electric vehicles, energy storage represents a major market for manganese. Utility-scale battery installations - container-sized battery banks numbering from one to hundreds - collect energy from intermittent sources like wind and solar, then discharge when generation stops. Both NMC and other battery chemistries serve this growing sector.

A technical challenge remains: manganese in LFP batteries tends to deteriorate over time, and researchers are working on maintaining manganese stability for longer battery life. Within the next 15-20 years, battery recycling will become a substantial industry as first-generation EV batteries reach end of life. Current battery design prioritizes performance over recyclability, but the circular economy concept is pushing manufacturers to design batteries that are easier to disassemble and recycle from the start.

In markets where gasoline infrastructure dominates, Savage believes status will drive EV adoption before infrastructure does. He recalls that 25 years ago in Kazakhstan, the Mercedes G-Wagon was a coveted status symbol regardless of cost. The same dynamic will apply to electric vehicles - early adopters will be affluent buyers seeking status, which will gradually pull government officials into adoption, who will then demand charging infrastructure.

Charging infrastructure remains a practical barrier. Range anxiety is compounded by real-world conditions - both extreme heat and cold reduce battery range significantly. Hot climates drain batteries through air conditioning use, while cold weather reduces battery efficiency. Until charging stations are as common as gas stations, range limitations will slow adoption in regions with long distances between urban centers.

Savage emphasizes that most countries have environmental regulations on paper. However, foreign companies operating internationally face a higher standard because international stock exchange listings and institutional investors require best industry practices regardless of local requirements. Without meeting these standards, projects cannot attract funding - investors avoid reputational risk from backing non-compliant operations.

Research dating back decades supports this approach. A PhD dissertation from one of Savage's graduate school contemporaries demonstrated that companies exceeding environmental regulations actually save money by avoiding enforcement battles, lost revenue, and restricted investment. The economics of compliance shifted in the 1960s when activists demanded clean water and air, forcing companies to internalize disposal costs that had previously been externalized. Over time, the industry learned that meeting high standards and reducing costs were not mutually exclusive.

Non-compliance persists globally, not just in developing markets. Companies may comply on paper while cutting corners in practice, relying on legal teams to keep regulators at bay until exposure through media or persistent investigation forces change.

Risk management in challenging jurisdictions requires understanding local systems at every level. Savage's approach centers on several principles. First, read and understand local mining codes - many foreign companies lose licenses simply because they did not follow regulations they never bothered to read. Second, build relationships at all levels - senior officials, mid-level bureaucrats who draft papers and enforce regulations, and ground-level operators. Third, understand the difference between legal frameworks and operating realities, and find ways to work within both while maintaining compliance with international anti-corruption laws.

Savage shares an example from the Congo, where he spent most of 2010 negotiating a joint venture with the state manganese company. After losing the initial deal to another party, he watched as nothing happened with those assets for years. When the political landscape shifted with a new president, Savage returned with what he describes as the best proposal anyone had offered - a structure that would let the state company participate in potential upside through a public listing, rather than the typical arrangement where foreign companies capture all the value. Patience and a superior offer eventually secured the joint venture.

The energy transition has created what Savage calls an unintended consequence: advocates who pushed to eliminate hydrocarbons in favor of wind and solar did not anticipate the massive demand for metals and minerals required to manufacture renewable energy equipment. This has triggered a significant rebirth in mining exploration and development focused on critical minerals.

The mining industry itself is evolving in response. Autonomous vehicles in mines will become more common. Carbon reduction is becoming a priority across the value chain - cement production alone accounts for roughly 10% of global carbon emissions. The closure of coal-fired power plants has reduced fly ash availability, pushing the cement industry back toward Roman-era pozzolanic materials that also happen to lower carbon output.

The future energy mix will include hydrocarbons, nuclear, solar, wind, hydro, and potentially technologies not yet developed. Small modular nuclear reactors, discussed at Kazakhstan's National Nuclear Center as far back as the late 1990s, are now becoming reality and could power individual mining projects rather than requiring large-scale power plants.

Savage sees several policy factors affecting the mining industry. Streamlined permitting - reducing regulatory timelines without eliminating environmental protections - could accelerate domestic mineral production. National security considerations override pure free-market economics: while China can produce electric vehicles for $15,000, strategic dependence on any single source creates unacceptable risk in a potential conflict scenario.

For critical minerals like manganese, which has no active mine production in the United States, domestic policy support could prove decisive. If the policy direction favors onshore manufacturing using domestic materials, it logically requires supporting domestic mining operations and processing facilities.

Tariff policy creates both opportunity and anxiety. Higher tariffs protect domestic producers from cheap imports but increase costs throughout the supply chain. The balance between protecting domestic industry and maintaining competitive costs remains an ongoing challenge. Tax policy plays a related role - lower rates may actually increase revenue by reducing avoidance behavior and maintaining charitable giving that historically collapsed under high marginal rates.

From Electric Metals' perspective, the policy environment appears favorable: demand for domestic manganese production aligns with both national security objectives and manufacturing policy goals, creating conditions for potential government support through the Department of Defense and Department of Energy.