Copper mine development is becoming increasingly difficult due to a range of factors, according to industry participants, and during a time when more supply is needed to meet a looming deficit.
The global market is expected to fall into a deficit in the coming years due to lack of exploration stemming from stubbornly low prices. According to the International Copper Study Group, the global copper market will record a 40,000-tonne surplus in 2018 followed by a 330,000-tonne deficit in 2019. But efforts to bring new mines online to rebalance the market will be met with a number of obstacles, panelists said at Metal Bulletin's fourth annual copper seminar in New York on Wednesday June 6.First off, many of the remaining copper deposits in the world contain lower-grade copper than the deposits that have already been explored. "Record...