Copper producers and market analysts are starting to outline a supply gap that arrives just as hyperscale AI campuses ramp toward record power draws. The International Energy Agency’s data-analytics-id=”inline-link” href=”https://www.iea.org/reports/global-critical-minerals-outlook-2025/overview-of-outlook-for-key-minerals” target=”_blank” data-url=”https://www.iea.org/reports/global-critical-minerals-outlook-2025/overview-of-outlook-for-key-minerals” referrerpolicy=”no-referrer-when-downgrade” data-hl-processed=”none” data-mrf-recirculation=”inline-link”>latest critical minerals outlook places copper on a path where existing and planned mines meet only about 70% of projected 2035 demand.
Wood Mackenzie expects shortages to appear far earlier, with a 304,000-tonne refined-copper deficit forecast for 2025 and a wider gap in 2026. That trajectory converges with a wave of…
