Worker arranging the cells at an electrowinning plant in El Abra copper mine, Chile. Stock image.
To meet the world’s future needs, copper prices must at least double their current levels in order to incentivize companies to build more mines, a study published in the latest issue of the SEG Discovery journal suggests.
According to the study, led by researchers from the University of Michigan, Cornell University and the University of Queensland, the problem isn’t about finding enough copper in the ground, but the rate at which companies are mining to satiate the rapid consumption of metal driven by two major themes: economic development and clean energy.
These two drivers of demand are at odds when it comes to how resources are to be allocated, because, as the study reveals, the current rate of mining can barely keep up with the copper needs for one, let alone both.
