CEO of BHP: Tight copper supply difficult to resolve, high-price era may last for years

Mike Henry, CEO of BHP Billiton, emphasized in an interview that copper is a "crucial" metal, not only supporting daily economic operations but also being a key component of decarbonization and digitalization technologies. Henry said, "The market size of copper metal is approximately between 300 to 400 billion dollars annually, while the often-heard rare earths have a market size of only about 20 billion dollars per year. So this is a very large market." Like rare earth minerals, copper is facing the pressure of demand skyrocketing while supply is unable to keep up. Henry pointed out that in the background of "strong demand growth," the bullish trend in the copper market may continue in the coming years. "We expect that from now until 2050, copper demand will grow by 70%, but supply is becoming increasingly difficult to release. New mines are becoming scarcer, discovered mines are often smaller and lower grade, and located in harsher regions, making it difficult to quickly develop these mines."