BHP Billiton is moving its exploration headquarters to Toronto in an effort to focus its growth on "green metals" such as copper and nickel.
BHP struck a partnership with Midland Exploration last August to explore for nickel in the northernmost province of Quebec, where winter temperatures average close to -30C.
Laura Tyler, BHP's chief technology officer, told a mining conference in Toronto that nickel was fast becoming the power of battery technology and playing a crucial role in global decarbonisation efforts.
She predicts that the next few years will be a "golden age" of exploration, with innovation and new technology helping to unlock future resources.
Mr Taylor said on Wednesday that nickel production would need to increase nearly fourfold to meet forecast demand for electric and hybrid vehicles.
BHP expects to have about 50 employees in its Toronto office, including the senior exploration leadership team.
The division was previously based in Santiago, Chile, and the new location is closer to the Company's major markets and is expected to provide additional funding and hiring opportunities.
Exploration spending in Australia, BHP's home, rose to its highest level in seven years in the fourth quarter of last year as talk mounted of a new commodities supercycle.
That has prompted miners to scour the globe for new mineral deposits that will drive a clean energy transition, including nickel and copper.
"We are very clear that we want more options in our future-oriented commodities," Mike Henry, BHP's chief executive, said on a shareholder conference call on Thursday.
'Current high asset prices make value-added acquisitions in these areas less likely, which will mean more focus on exploration to unlock new resources,' Mr. Henry said.
"To have the best assets in the best products, you have to find them and develop them ahead of time," Taylor says.
"To do that, we need to imagine what the world will be like 50 or even 100 years from now."
