It's getting harder & more expensive to get #Copper out of the ground
Great report from Bloomberg on the difficulties facing the #Mining industry in meeting the growing need for more Copper.
After more than a century of commercial production at Chile's Chuquicamata reduced the amount of ore that can profitably be extracted from surface, two decades ago state-run Codelco began drawing up plans to build a modern underground mine at the site to tap the riches deep below. The company originally envisioned a $2 billion investment. By the time its board signed off on the project in 2014, the budget had risen to $4.2 billion. At the time of the 2019 ribbon-cutting, it had climbed to $5.5 billion. The latest estimate, including related infrastructure, is $7 billion, making it the biggest outlay Codelco's history.
Those obstacles can drain miners' enthusiasm for new projects. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates the industry needs to spend
