RE: Significant shortfall in Copper Supply7 Jun 2025 12:43
Tranche 3
Electric cars drive demand
The increased use of EVs also looks likely to power the requirement for copper. EVs are more copper-intensive than traditional cars, and the same is true of the related energy needs and infrastructure. EVs and plug-in hybrids respectively use 250% and 144% more copper than traditional cars do.
There is also an expectation that the world will need more electricity in the coming years, with AI and the internet generally relying on energy-hungry data centres. Trafigura, a major copper trader, predicted last year that AI alone could generate demand for an extra one million tonnes of copper by 2030 (currently, there is an annual demand for around 28 million tonnes of copper). All these factors mean electrical infrastructure and transport will increase copper usage by 26% and 29% respectively between now and 2030, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s Copper Service.
Meanwhile, as nations develop, industrialise and bolster infrastructure, their demand for copper rises greatly. Indian copper usage is forecast to grow 76% between 2024 and 2030. In all total copper usage globally is forecast to increase by 16% overall by 2030. Yet supply is only set to grow by 11% over the same period, so that a significant deficit will open by the end of the decade. The International Energy Agency is predicting a 30% shortfall of supply by 2035, as mines have been affected by “declining ore grades, rising capital costs, limited resource discoveries and long lead times”. Problems range from deep, low-ore grade mines in South America and logistical challenges in Africa to delays securing permits in the US.
Nations in South America, such as Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, have been exploiting some of their best resources for some time now, with some of Chile’s largest mines many decades old. Major copper miner BHP estimates that global copper-ore grades have declined by 40% since 1991.
As ore grades decline, mining becomes less efficient and more expensive. “Declining grades… means that more ore needs to be mined, processed and transported to produce the same amount of copper. Without technological advancements, grade decline is likely further to increase production costs on a unit of output basis,” BHP said last year.
In several countries, obstacles to acquiring permits and local resistance to projects have caused supply problems: witness First Quantum’s Cobre Panama mine, which was closed in late 2023 after nationwide protests. Cobre Panama had only opened in 2019 following a $10bn investment from First Quantum and its predecessors. The risks in investing in opening new mines are high, which militates against new production.
“Return on investment is long in the mining industry. From finding a resource to actually mining it can take 15-20 years,” a source at a large copper miner told me. With all this in mind, there is an expectation that copper prices will move up significantly in the