An excerpt from a story in todays paper courtesy ofBARRY...

An excerpt from a story in todays paper courtesy of

BARRY FITZGERALD From: The Australian October 03, 2012 12:00AM

The big copper push by BHP is backed by its bullish assessment of where the copper market is going. Others share its bullish assessment, as has been reflected in copper withstanding all of the global economic challenges that have made other commodities go weak at the knees. It is trading at $US3.75 a pound, which is as good as the producers can hope for when (on average) their cash costs of production come in at about $US1.60 a pound.

BHP -- and the broader market -- expects present global output of 15 million tonnes will continue to decline because of depletion of resources and lower ore grades.

Throw in some resource nationalisation, environmental constraints and operating cost escalation, and it is clear there has to be some big-time investment in new mines and expansions of existing operations with the supporting reserve base.