Modern Mining August 2023

COPPER

upward trajectory because of this acceleration. Copper is an essential ele ment in the green economy and a critical aspect of most electrical or battery-powered devices from smartphones to electric cars with the genera tion of clean energy in wind farms, for example, being highly dependent on the metal for efficient conductiv ity. Copper has unmatched thermal and electrical conduc tivity properties and is used to power high-speed rail and other key elements on which today’s, and tomorrow’s sus tainable economy depend. Nelson explains that with the ever-increasing demand for copper, and with large

per annum. EVs alone are expected to account for roughly half this quantity. With the world focused on meeting the call for clean and green energy require ments, there is just not enough copper to meet this demand. Furthermore, there is no other metal that can replace copper.” According to Nelson, copper is currently trad

Chilean open cast copper mines reaching their end of life cycles, global copper supply is expected to be in deficit in the coming years. “As existing large-scale open-pit mines reach the end of their lives, miners are mulling the viabil ity of transitioning to underground operations – a highly expensive endeavour. With this, and the lim ited investment made into copper exploration over the past decade, the fundamentals for copper are extremely positive, and the expectation is that the price of copper will continue to climb steadily. “We expect to see copper production fall from about 20/25 million tonnes per annum to virtually 10 million tonnes per annum in the next five to six years. Over the next decade, demand for copper is expected to grow to between 60 to 80 million tonnes

A view of Copper 360’s operations.

ing at roughly $8600/t and expected to trade between $12 000 and $14 000/t in the next two years – a favourable price for Copper 360, which has an all-in sustaining-cost of $4500/t. This will allow for a bumper bottom-line, he concludes. 

SX/EW Solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX/ EW) is a two-stage hydrometallurgical pro cess that extracts and upgrades copper ions from low-grade leach solutions into a solvent.

August 2023  MODERN MINING  19