Challenge

All over the world, high-grade copper deposits are rare; low-grade ore bodies are common. Beneficiating these low-grade resources is expensive. Productive mines and concentrators cost billions of dollars to capitalize, and many years to develop.

Today, costs are increasing for both open-pit and underground operations. Existing mines must dig ever deeper. And the deeper the mine, the less pure the ore.

To compound this, copper mines are frequently in remote locations. That means getting the concentrate to custom or integrated smelters, often on roads or by rails that must be built; or by sea in vessels that must be carried to and loaded before they set off to the four corners of the world.

Still, copper mining has achieved a high degree of sustainability in developed countries, with industrializing countries following close behind. Modern practices and methods have been created that ensure environmental sensibilities are always top of mind. For the most part, copper mining has gone green.

Once the product is converted to cathode, global supply and demand dictates the market price for copper. All these issues combined with strict government regulations for operating permits demonstrate the challenges facing the copper industry today.