Copper Macro Thread, page-219

Gold is another example as a result of financial & trading sanctions. Not only has Russia stockpiled bullion but they’ve gone after the resource and the source assets too by their using leverage (“friendship and security”) over economically vulnerable countries like Mali, ably assisted by China who regularly pop up in some structural role. It has resulted in these two superpowers gaining source assets like mining infrastructure originally funded by the West, directly or by proxy, that it would probably otherwise not have gotten hold of so easily, cutting the West’s lunch in the process. Example this week: the future of Barrick’s biggest gold mine in Mali is now looking decidedly uncertain:

https://www.mining.com/barrick-under-pressure-in-mali-as-regime-eyes-control-of-loulo-gounkoto/

Lithium is probably next (LLL and AVZ seemingly both battling to retain their footholds). Then copper assets in economically vulnerable parts of Africa, where Russia and China can easily muscle in.