The world may need 10 million tonnes more copper to meet demand in just 10 years says new snapshots from global resource and market analysts including Bloomberg Intelligence.
The copper industry needs to spend upwards of $100B to close what could be an annual supply deficit of 4.7M metric tons by 2030 as the clean power and transport sectors take off says a recent report from the CRU Group.
Commodities trader Trafigura Group echoed the call, saying the potential shortfall could reach 10 million tons if no mines get built. Closing such a big gap would require building the equivalent of eight projects the size of BHP Group’s giant Escondida in Chile, the world’s largest copper mine.
Obviously copper projects are in the pipeline. But producers are wary of repeating oversupply mistakes of past cycles by accelerating plans at a time when big deposits are getting harder to find, while new mines are also getting riskier and more expensive to build.
“Increasing technical complexity and approval delays could lead to a dearth of shovel-ready projects in 2025-30,” says Bloomberg Intelligence.
Companies are having to engage communities and governments much earlier in project development these days given rising social and environmental awareness and expectations. Partly as a result, the average lead time from first discovery to first metal has increased by four years from previous cycles to almost 14 years.
More Detail:
Bloomberg:https://www.mining.com/web/the-world-will-need-10-million-tonnes-more-copper-to-meet-demand/