In 5 Years There Will Be a Massive Copper Shortage

[AusTexDude]

Supply can not meet demand, and it's going to get way worse. By 2030 there will be a huge shortfall. Mines can't produce enough and most mines are running out of ore with too few new mines in the works. A mine takes average 23 years to come online.

A Perfect storm

The astute person could scrap just 7 good motors per week and sock it away until 2030 and cash in all that #2 copper which is going to amount to a huge payday. At today's prices it already comes to almost $15,000 and if prices skyrocket due to shortages who knows what that number could be.

 

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[Chilli]

Supply can not meet demand, and it's going to get way worse. By 2030 there will be a huge shortfall. Mines can't produce enough and most mines are running out of ore with too few new mines in the works. A mine takes average 23 years to come online.

A Perfect storm

The astute person could scrap just 7 good motors per week and sock it away until 2030 and cash in all that #2 copper which is going to amount to a huge payday. At today's prices it already comes to almost $15,000 and if prices skyrocket due to shortages who knows what that number could be.

Hi. I don't know about all that, perhaps collectively.
We are estimated to have at present mines 23 yrs worth and thats as is.
So new explorations id expect to push past that. So 2025 plus 23 puts us comfortably at 2048. Here the issue is not what we have, but greeny crap stopping exploration. I believe we have plenty more and if it goes scarce it will be not reality that its scarce but fabricated by rules, climate change garbage and land rights. True that copper is here a thing stolen from building sites and anywhere it is. But I think it's a result of those things I said. Like coal here, we could power ourselves for centuries with what we have as well as our huge gas reserves. But politics is killing it, not reserves.

 

[AusTexDude]

Hi. I don't know about all that, perhaps collectively.
We are estimated to have at present mines 23 yrs worth and thats as is.
So new explorations id expect to push past that. So 2025 plus 23 puts us comfortably at 2048. Here the issue is not what we have, but greeny crap stopping exploration. I believe we have plenty more and if it goes scarce it will be not reality that its scarce but fabricated by rules, climate change garbage and land rights. True that copper is here a thing stolen from building sites and anywhere it is. But I think it's a result of those things I said. Like coal here, we could power ourselves for centuries with what we have as well as our huge gas reserves. But politics is killing it, not reserves.

Just google copper shortage there are no lack of indicators. By 2030 global demand will outpace supply by 20%.

 

[Chilli]

Just google copper shortage there are no lack of indicators. By 2030 global demand will outpace supply by 20%.

Hi, yeah I still believe its not "actual copper going rare" its orchestrated to be so by manipulating it from a global agenda using climate change, creating land reserves and other things to bring about the Global Control.
There are a plethora of sites that are chicken little concerning coal, copper, gas, oil, melting icecaps, dying polar bears, etc etc....Doomsdaying everyone into living in fear. I don't buy into it, im sorry but anyone can show me anything they like but I know whats going on. This was predicted along with the "UFO" stuff going on from sources I know over 10 yrs ago. Its fake control.
You may find things in short supply in the future but it won't be because of lack of the natural resources. It will be the elites giving you what they allow and withholding what they want to control you.
I can google aliens created man, I can google polar bears are starving, penguins are dying, that we are going to be underwater in the near future.
Funny that, all the elites buying up ocean front properties and islands, flying private jets everywhere, eating at the best restaurants, telling you to live in 15 minute cities, stop driving cars, ride bikes, stop eating meat and next will be stop farting! Oh hang on they are actually working on stopping cows farting as I type. Did you know cow farts are contributing the massive global warming?
Time to eat a Maccas cockroach Mc Happy meal people 😁

 

[Cariboo5]

Supply can not meet demand, and it's going to get way worse. By 2030 there will be a huge shortfall. Mines can't produce enough and most mines are running out of ore with too few new mines in the works. A mine takes average 23 years to come online.

A Perfect storm

The astute person could scrap just 7 good motors per week and sock it away until 2030 and cash in all that #2 copper which is going to amount to a huge payday. At today's prices it already comes to almost $15,000 and if prices skyrocket due to shortages who knows what that number could be.

You hit the nail right on the head and that is why I sold all my gold (placer) claims but kept my mineral (hardrock) claims for the porphyry copper deposits potential. Both claims are around 3000 acres and the one further south of where I live is only a 2 hour drive. This one the rocks are right with the right geology and a Junior Mining Company just
last year staked the open ground around me. They have done surveys and drilling and the results are looking good. We are just small-fry but we do all of our exploration work required in order to maintain and keep the claims in the hopes that in 2- 3 years they may want to buy us out. Will hang onto these until someone wants them.

Here the government is trying to fast track the permit process and get a mine up and running in 7 - 11 years. If the price of copper ever gets to the $6.00 to $10.00 range then even the low grade drill results say 0.04% copper will then be feasible to mine as usually there is always gold, silver also where one finds porphyry deposits.

We have another busy year coming up on the claims and hoping like last year the weather here was so mild with very little snow that we got our work started on March 22. With any luck we will get an early start. Our claims are in The Quesnel Terrane and the following explains it better than I...


"The Quesnel Trough, also known as the Quesnel Terrane, is a Triassic/Jurassic-age arc of volcanosedimentary and intrusive rocks that hosts a number of alkalic copper-gold porphyry deposits with copper gold and silver values and sometimes molybdenum. The Trough runs northwest some 1,000 km from the U.S. border in south-central British Columbia to close to the Yukon border.

In addition to the copper-gold porphyry deposits, the Quesnel Trough, the longest mineral belt in Canada, is also known for several types of gold deposits."

 

[DizzyDigger]

With as much stuff as my wife buys online, I've got quite a cardboard collection going. Once it hits $5 a pound I'm gonna be sitting fat...

 

[SD51]

I didn't read all of the previous posts but I just learned that new plumbing projects are now using plastic tubing instead of copper pipe. I remember in 1976 when I had my first house built. my house was wired with copper but the house across the street had aluminum wiring which requires special care when making the connections due to ihe problem with oxidation.

 

[AusTexDude]

Hi, yeah I still believe its not "actual copper going rare" its orchestrated to be so by manipulating it from a global agenda using climate change, creating land reserves and other things to bring about the Global Control.
There are a plethora of sites that are chicken little concerning coal, copper, gas, oil, melting icecaps, dying polar bears, etc etc....Doomsdaying everyone into living in fear. I don't buy into it, im sorry but anyone can show me anything they like but I know whats going on. This was predicted along with the "UFO" stuff going on from sources I know over 10 yrs ago. Its fake control.
You may find things in short supply in the future but it won't be because of lack of the natural resources. It will be the elites giving you what they allow and withholding what they want to control you.
I can google aliens created man, I can google polar bears are starving, penguins are dying, that we are going to be underwater in the near future.
Funny that, all the elites buying up ocean front properties and islands, flying private jets everywhere, eating at the best restaurants, telling you to live in 15 minute cities, stop driving cars, ride bikes, stop eating meat and next will be stop farting! Oh hang on they are actually working on stopping cows farting as I type. Did you know cow farts are contributing the massive global warming?
Time to eat a Maccas cockroach Mc Happy meal people 😁

Yes I totally know what you are saying. I live in Austin TX and I used to be friends with the fat man, ak as Alex Jones when I was a documentary filmmaker. There is really nothing I have not heard through the years.

 

[pepperj]

Supply can not meet demand, and it's going to get way worse. By 2030 there will be a huge shortfall. Mines can't produce enough and most mines are running out of ore with too few new mines in the works. A mine takes average 23 years to come online.

A Perfect storm

The astute person could scrap just 7 good motors per week and sock it away until 2030 and cash in all that #2 copper which is going to amount to a huge payday. At today's prices it already comes to almost $15,000 and if prices skyrocket due to shortages who knows what that number could be.

Here is the historical charts for the past 20 yrs. for copper.
In 1994 I was buying copper @ $0.90-1.00 a lb. and selling it to the broker for $1.00-1.10 lb. (Canadian)
In 2006 I was buying copper @ $4.00 lb. and selling it for $4.80 lb.(Canadian)

Today copper basically is mirroring the 2006 prices and now lets look @ the inventory.

https://www.lme.com/en/Metals/Non-ferrous/LME-Copper#Summary

In scrap copper the LME is the base that every brokerage house uses.

So the physical stock pile of copper in warehouses is at this very moment 539,600,000 pounds.

This doesn't take into account the physical amount of copper that hasn't been sold yet. This means the approx. 15,300 scrap yards that are holding copper that hasn't been put on a contract as of yet. (meaning small yards sell a fixed contract to a broker for a certain delivery date)
Given the amount of yards here alone now times that by a amount of copper = a huge amount of inventory.
(Example I probably had 3-5 tons in reserve at any given time-stuff that needed processing) I had an ongoing contract that averaged 10 tons of copper a week. I was a small yard also.

These numbers fluctuate depending of inventory levels on the LME, just as every other base metal.
Then there's the speculation narrative that copper will be $X amount. We've all heard the speculator driven narrative for the PM's.

So the fact that the 2030 dateline is nearing, the price will fulfil demand as it has done.
The greening of NA is going to change in another direction soon. This will impact the market in ways the supply will out weigh demand.

3-4 planned battery plants have been shelved over the past year in Ontario/QC alone-Gee what do they know that we don't know.
Simple answer the EV push has folks saying NOPE!
So these companies are saying demand isn't going to happen so there's no use in building a supply.

 

[Trezurehunter]

My employer allows me to bring the scrap copper home (sort of a fringe benefit). It is grade 1, so I suppose that may come to a halt when the prices creep higher. I usually clear around $1500 a year at todays prices. Not a bad little bonus.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

My employer allows me to bring the scrap copper home (sort of a fringe benefit). It is grade 1, so I suppose that may come to a halt when the prices creep higher. I usually clear around $1500 a year at todays prices. Not a bad little bonus.

Especially if you forgot to pay taxes on it

 

[AusTexDude]

My employer allows me to bring the scrap copper home (sort of a fringe benefit). It is grade 1, so I suppose that may come to a halt when the prices creep higher. I usually clear around $1500 a year at todays prices. Not a bad little bonus.

I personally would bank that copper for 5 years. If you look at the copper chart the $3.98 line was resistance that was broken multiple times and now looks as if has flipped to a support line.

Copper - Price - Chart - Historical Data - News

Copper increased 0.75 USd/LB or 18.82% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Copper - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on April of 2025.

tradingeconomics.com

 

[TheGreenBoy]

Copper already is a strategic metal where demand exceeds supply, worldwide. The polarisation of the world between global south and so called west, and various wars, hot and economic, between the poles deteriorating the market even faster. The worse is yet to come.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

The astute person could scrap just 7 good motors per week and sock it away until 2030 and cash in all that #2 copper which is going to amount to a huge payday.

I no longer grab fans, vacuum cleaners and other items with motors off the trash in my area. Why? Because most of their motors are now made with copper clad aluminum wire. Not worth the effort to drag things home when the majority of time the wire inside the motors are worth less than a buck a pound.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

I didn't read all of the previous posts but I just learned that new plumbing projects are now using plastic tubing instead of copper pipe.

That's one reason why copper demand will continue to decrease. They now use PEX for water supply lines in new construction. Cheaper than copper pipe. Also, flexible and durable...

 

[pepperj]

I personally would bank that copper for 5 years. If you look at the copper chart the $3.98 line was resistance that was broken multiple times and now looks as if has flipped to a support line.

Copper - Price - Chart - Historical Data - News

Copper increased 0.75 USd/LB or 18.82% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Copper - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on April of 2025.

tradingeconomics.com

Have you ever held a commodity?
What is your actual experience in this commodity. Speculation or active?

In the base metals a 5 yr cycle is a crap shoot.
Look at the head & shoulders of the graft.

Count how many there has been in the past 20 yrs. The 2020 events that pushed everything over double will do the same, but in the opposite direction.
Personally I would be pushing every pound out the door.

I was just at a large scrap yard pre Xmas, I was toured through the copper processing plant. Little to no inventory of copper chop. Aluminum chop was available, some mixed that had to be rerun, but no copper.

The general public doesn't see the inner workings nor inventory of larger yards generally.

 

[ToddsPoint]

I worked for a short time for Revere Copper in a tube mill. The copper came from mines out west. I was in squarish pieces maybe 24x24”. It looked like they poured molten copper in a depression in sand. They were melted and poured into a solid bar about 5” in dia and 8’ long. While it was still glowing hot a hole was driven the length of it making a rough tube. From there it went thru the various Ingersol-Rand drawbench machines. The copper tubing was pulled through carbide dies cold. With each draw the tube was stretched longer and thinner. My machine started with approx 2.0” dia tubes 90’ long. After going thru my machines dies, three tubes a time, the tubes were 1.7” dia and around 110’ long. My machine was 200’ long and I stood on a control platform in the middle. It was a dangerous place to work. Getting cut by copper can cause blood poisoning and at least one coworker got it the short time I was there.

 

[Dejure]

I didn't read all of the previous posts but I just learned that new plumbing projects are now using plastic tubing instead of copper pipe. I remember in 1976 when I had my first house built. my house was wired with copper but the house across the street had aluminum wiring which requires special care when making the connections due to ihe problem with oxidation.

Just for reference, part of the problem with aluminum comes with tying two metals together and the expansion and contraction of the wiring.

I rented a single wide, years back. One unused outlet got so hot you could not put your hand on it. It dawned on me, it was tied to other outlets on down the line, and one had an alarm clock running off it. That little clock, drawing very little power, put enough load on the circuit that the weak spot on the outlet before it was a fire hazzard.

I pulled the outlet, jumpered the aluminum wire with copper wire covered in de-ox goop, and ran the copper jumpers to the outlet. That's the normal fix, but just putting a good duplex outlet in place of the crap stab-in outlet would have given years more service, thanks to the new, tight connection.

 

[RGINN]

Well I hope this means that maybe someday this 3 or 4 pounds of common copper wheat pennies I got stashed will be worth more than maybe a nickel each.

 

[AusTexDude]

Well I hope this means that maybe someday this 3 or 4 pounds of common copper wheat pennies I got stashed will be worth more than maybe a nickel each.

I do believe all wheat pennies are worth at least 3 cents? I could be wrong.