One of mining's heavyweights is betting on batteries to power his comeback. Mick Davis, a key figure in the megamergers of BHP Ltd. and Billiton as well as Glencore and Xstrata, is raising money to invest in companies that mine the metals required to store power. His wager: Efforts to move to low-carbon energy will require more batteries and provide a permanent shift in metals demand. Once the preserve of consumer products, batteries are disrupting the automotive and energy industries by enabling electric vehicles and making it possible to store wind and solar power. Those trends have pushed many miners to expand into the metals used to make batteries, such as lithium, cobalt, graphite and nickel.