According to Mining.com, the Global budget for copper exploration in 2022 is nearly $2.8 billion, up 21% and the highest since 2014, according to a report by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
In March 2020, the international copper price fell to $2 / lb ($4,400 / ton) due to the pandemic, before recovering strongly.
In 2022, two large copper mines were commissioned worldwide. One is the Quellaveco copper mine in Peru, in which Anglo has a 60 per cent stake, and the other is the Timok copper mine in Serbia.
Teck Resources' Quebrada Blanca mine in Chile is due to start production this year, while two other copper mines -- Udokan in Russia and Rio Tinto's underground expansion at Oyu Tolgoi -- are under construction.
S&p expects the international copper market to be in surplus for the next three years (285,000 tonnes this year), but after that the market will be in much better supply, with a shortfall of nearly 400,000 tonnes in 2026.
S&p noted that large discoveries have not increased in recent years as copper exploration budgets have stagnated over the past few years, mostly in Latin America.
"Although copper reserves and resources have increased by 50 million tonnes compared with last year, most of the increase comes from discoveries made in the 1990s," the authors said.
