KEY POINTS
- New copper discoveries are declining as the industry shifts to old deposits.
- Exploration budgets for early-stage projects have significantly decreased.
- Latin America remains the main source of global copper reserves.
New copper deposits are getting more difficult to find as the mining industry moves towards less exploration.
According to the S&P Global report, it reveals that companies ought to search for new deposits while they are trying to extend the older ones. This trend is making large copper resource discoveries scarce globally which may affect future supply.
Decline in major new finds
The study focused on major copper discovered from 1990 to 2023 where the deposit size is equal to or more than 500,000 tonnes.
It discovered that out of the 239 large deposits, almost all the additions to the copper resources originated from the older prospecting done within the 1990s.
New deposits from the 2000s contributed very little, at most 3.5 percent of the total copper discovered. In the last five years world the world reserves have increased by 4.2 million tonnes, and only four new deposits were discovered
According to Sean DeCoff, the number of new copper discoveries is declining because firms prefer increasing the size of known resources, called brownfield exploration, to making fresh discoveries, or greenfield exploration.
He suggests that until there’s a change in the trend, the important copper discoveries will become less frequent.
Exploration budgets falling short
One of the reasons why there have been minimal discoveries of copper is due to reduced budgets in the initial exploration.
However, the world’s copper exploration budget has risen by 12 percent in 2023, which is still a long way from the 2012 peak level. Grassroots exploration was at 50% to 60% of total budgets in the 1990s, while in 2023 was at only 28 percent for exploration.
Where copper is still found
Most copper is being discovered in Latin America, which holds 55.6 percent of global reserves.
According to a report by Mining.com, countries like Chile and Peru lead the way, hosting massive deposits. Other key regions include Asia-Pacific, where significant copper has been found in Mongolia, Indonesia, Pakistan, and North America, though many U.S. deposits face regulatory and public challenges.
