Mining isn’t getting easier. Discoveries are rare, grades are declining, and environmental hurdles are multiplying. Add an unfriendly regulatory environment and a cost of capital that scares off investors, and you’ve got a perfect storm for supply-side headaches.

The solution? Price will have to do the heavy lifting. While consensus predictions about copper prices are notoriously bad (essentially telling us what last year looked like), the long-term trend is clear: copper prices must rise significantly to fund the exploration and projects needed to meet demand. Without this, decarbonization goals will remain just that—goals.

In short: Copper demand is limitless, but supply-side challenges make it the world’s most tantalizing game of "how do we get there?

The “most important commodity:” Anglo’s Paul Gait on copper