Copper Exploration and Discoveries in Australia and the World
The presentation highlighted a looming copper supply gap as global demand is set to double every 20‑30 years, meaning consumption over the next 30 years will surpass all copper ever mined. Since 1900, 1,360 primary deposits containing about 4,200 Mt of copper have been discovered, chiefly in the American Cordillera. Grades are falling—now 0.41 % Cu for open‑pit and 0.85 % for underground—while exploration depths have risen to over 200 m. Despite a four‑fold rise in spend, discovery rates have halved, pushing average discovery costs to $500 million.
Brownfield Exploration Gives Copper Supply Breathing Time
The rate of discovering new copper deposits has fallen by half over the past decade, driven by a roughly 60% drop in grassroots exploration funding. In contrast, brownfield and mine‑site exploration has supplied four times more copper than greenfield discoveries,...
