"the world risks running out of copper"

The world risks “running out of copper” amid growing demand for the metal, paving the way for a spike in prices just as the global economic reopening gets under way, according to commodity strategists at Bank of America.

The bank’s strategists said prices could jump to $13,000 a metric ton (or $5.89 a pound) in the coming months and are forecasting copper market deficits amid further drops in inventory this year and in 2022.

“The fundamental backdrop is so concerning because the global economy is just now starting to open up and reflate,” they said. “If scrap supply doesn’t come through, stocks would deplete by 2024.”

The BofA strategists said copper faces “even more violent price swings” should scrap metal usage by refiners and smelters fail to increase as predicted and inventories deplete in the next three years. Under that scenario, the “red metal” could soar above $20,000 a metric ton, or $9.07 a pound, according to their note.

Great timing to find more high grade copper. With an additional drilling rig due to arrive on site in late April some focus will be able to turn to the high potential prospects identified in the latest quarterly report.

The recent AGES paper by Zoe Morgan (and previous years papers) are on KGL's website under regional geology which provide some interesting background reading...some excerpts below.

Should be an exciting 12 months ahead.

Exploration potential of the Jervois mineral field

Five years of drilling by KGL has necessarily been focused on a small portion of the known targets at Jervois in order to bring these more advanced prospects (Reward, Bellbird and Rockface) up to Indicated Resource classification whereby, under the JORC code, they can be potentially converted to Ore Reserves by the application of appropriate modifying factors, such as mine designs, process recoveries and economic analysis.

Now that this has been achieved, KGL aims to explore the whole, vast and substantial potential of the Jervois and Unca Creek mineral tenements. A number of promising prospects have already been discovered at Jervois and Unca Creek (Figure 2). Some of these targets are drill-ready, particularly the ones that lie on the famous and large-scale Jervois J-fold. Some of the other targets require additional surface exploration work, such as geological mapping, geochemical sampling, RAB drilling, and geophysical surveys, in order to develop well-defined drill targets.

Association with deep crustal structures

One of the distinctive and prospective features of the Jervois mineral field is its large size. As has already been noted, the Jervois J-fold is a large-scale fold that hosts a number of significant mineral deposits. These deposits have been recognised to be generally stratabound and have probably accumulated from exhalative mineralised fluids in an ancient, fault-bounded basin. It is postulated that the nearby crustal-scale Jervois Fault, which abuts and truncates the mineralised J-fold to the west, has been a significant driver of the formation of the Jervois mineral deposits. Recent studies by company geologists and the NTGS have unravelled the tectonic, structural and metamorphic history of the Jervois area (Weisheit et al 2019). Important for the understanding of the economic geology was the recognition of remobilisation of the original stratabound copper sulfides (along with lead, zinc, gold, silver and iron minerals) into structural traps, principally the hinges of isoclinal folds, which has resulted in a considerable metal grade enhancement.

It is generally understood that world-class mineral deposits are usually associated with large-scale tectonic features, such as the Jervois Fault, that act as a plumbing system for mineralising fluids. Orogenic processes, commencing with basin formation and ending in major folding episodes and regional metamorphism, provided the heat to drive the mineralising system. The close association of the Jervois mineral field with long-lived, crustal scale structures is an important positive element to be taken into account when assessing the prospectivity of the Jervois and Unca Creek mineral tenements.

DYOR.