Copper is the missing ingredient of the energy transition

By The Economist

The pressures of industrial development in the emerging world, as well as progressing electrification and decarbonisation as part of the energy transition, are likely to turbocharge demand for the red metal. s&p Global, a consultancy, expects copper consumption to double to 50m tonnes between now and 2035. Yet unless prices rise sharply, supply is unlikely to keep up. Besides new copper mines coming on stream in Mongolia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, such projects are thin on the ground