Big copper deals to take centre stage in Santiago

Output jump: A worker from BHP Billiton’s Escondida, the world’s biggest copper mine, inside a copper cathodes plant in Antofagasta, Chile. Global copper demand is expected to reach 53 million tonnes annually by 2053. — Reuters

SANTIAGO: Global copper producers are converging in Chile this week for their largest gathering since 2019, with talks expected to centre on the industry’s growing mergers and acquisitions (M&As) wave amid surging demand and tight supply for the metal anchoring the green energy transition.

The buyout trend comes as indigenous groups, host communities and others increasingly oppose the industry’s attempts to build new mines, obstacles fuelling the growing realisation among mining companies that they may need to combine in order to grow.