Assertion Supported
China holds 45% to 55% of global copper smelting capacity
“Roughly 50, between 45, 55% of the smelting capacity in the world, so companies that purchase the concentrate and smelt it, are in China.”
Prediction Open · timeframe Jun 2053
Copper demand over the next 30 years will equal all historical production
“The amount of copper that will be required in the next 30 year shale is roughly the amount of copper that humanity has produced all over history.”
Insight
Copper mining requires political stability for 50-to-60-year operational horizons
“It is, so it's a function of, yes, nature, but also of political stability and how you access to those minerals. And what's the rule of law that will allow you to make an investment for the next 50 or 60 years? How certain are you that you will be able to make…”
Assertion Supported
45% of global copper is used in electricity and grid infrastructure
“45% of the copper in the world is used in the grid or in electricity or any application that it's either in the production or the transmission of electrons, or the use of those electrons.”
Assertion Supported
The world consumes 28 to 29 million tons of copper annually
“The general number is that the world consumes roughly 28 to twenty-nine million tons of copper a year. Of those, Something like 5,000,006 million come from recycling or scrap, or there's a recovery of copper around that, that helps you. But in general, what is…”
Assertion Partly supported
The Americas produce over half of the world's copper
“The main producer of copper is chile. And I'm Chilean, and we're based in Chile as a company. And Chile produces roughly one-third of the copper. Peru produces another 10% of the copper. And the rest of the Americas, that's US, Canada, Mexico, produce roughly …”
Assertion Contradicted
Freeport-McMoRan surpassed Codelco as the world's largest copper producer in 2022
“The largest producer of copper in the world is, there's a tie. So last year there was a change in the ranking. It was usually was Codelco, which is a state-owned company, a Chilean state-owned company. Codelco was the largest producer of copper, and last year …”
Assertion Supported
Chile's Escondida mine produces as much copper as the entire US
“So Escondida, which is the largest copper mine in the world, produces all by itself a million tons of copper, a little bit more than one million ton of copper tons per year. That is roughly all the production of the U.S. Just produced by one asset.”
Assertion Supported
China consumes roughly half of the world's annual copper supply
“So roughly China consumes 12 to 15 to thirteen million tons of copper per year. The U.S. Around one point into two million tons. And then Germany, Japan, and developed nations consume roughly a million tons per year.”
Assertion Supported
Average copper ore grades have fallen below 1%
“Ore grades are below one percent, so which means that non-copper is 99% of a piece of ore.”
Assertion Supported
Shipping copper concentrate requires 3x more energy than shipping refined copper
“So you don't ship a pure copper, you ship something that is a bulk material that has 30% of copper. So you have three times at least more energy to move that amount of copper if it's in a concentrate than if it's a pure copper plate.”
Assertion Supported
80% of global copper is produced via sulfide concentration
“Today, about 80% of the copper is produced through concentration, because it comes from copper sulfides, and only 20% comes from copper oxides, and those are processes through hydrometallurgy.”
Assertion Partly supported
Ore grades at major mines Morenci and Escondida have fallen below 0.6%
“We mentioned Morenci or Escondida, these huge assets in the world. When they started, they were two percenters. Today, those mines are operating below .five or .six percent.”
Assertion Partly supported
Mining permit approval times have increased from 5 to 17 years
“In the fifties, it would take five years to get a permit. Today it's getting 17 years to get a permit for a mine.”
Assertion Supported
Flotation concentration enriches low-grade copper ore up to 30%
“In the case that you go through the concentration, what you do is you take this crushed rock, so we go back to the crusher, then we mill it, we grind it into very thin powder, and what we'll do is we'll try to float the particles that are rich in copper. And w…”
