cdu and dividends, page-15

jadel,

Wikipedia isn't an authoritative source of information. It runs off a user contribution system, so anyone with an internet connection can write Wikipedia articles. It's as easy for people to put something up on wiki as it is to put it on HotCopper.

I do however consider USGS (United States Geological Survey) an authoritative source on this topic - USGS is the US government arm responsible for geological research and the information it produces is used to advise organs like the US Congress on matters of national interest pertaining to resources.

According to them, there's 680mt of copper in existing global reserves and total global resources exceed 3 billion tonnes. Global usage of copper was around 17mt last year so the reserve figure is enough copper for 40 years while the resource figure is enough for 175 years. Source:

http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/copper/mcs-2013-coppe.pdf

That's plenty of copper by anyone's measure.

As for the assertion that global population will double, or probably quadruple in 37 years, can you please provide a source for that assertion? No credible source I've come across makes growth projection anywhere near those figures. The UN's own estimates indicate population will grow to a bit more than 8.9billion by 2050, and will peak at 9.22B people by 2075 before going through a gradual decline. Source: http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/WorldPop2300final.pdf
It's a long way off from 14 billion or 28 billion people you are suggesting.

Leaving aside population growth and existing resources, what people need to realize is copper isn't like oil in that copper can be recycled over and over again. Every tonne of copper a nation buys is a permanent addition to its copper stockpile. This means that, just like steel, copper demand per capita actually stays flat or decreases over time once a nation passes its industrialization phase. So couple that with 170 odd years of copper resources, we're not going to run out of copper for several generations at least.

As always, DYOR and Caveat Emptor