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    Copper price nears record: supply-chain stress and demand signals for mine planners

    May 13, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    Copper price nears record: supply-chain stress and demand signals for mine planners

    First reported on MINING.com

    30 Second Briefing

    Copper futures in London jumped 2% on Tuesday, briefly breaching $14,000/t and moving back towards January’s $14,500/t record as Chinese inventories fall and state-owned traders signal strong decade-long demand. Satellite data from Earth-i show a sharp drop in global smelting activity in April and Sprott warns that disruptions to Middle Eastern sulphur supplies and fuel availability in Peru threaten output, with about 20% of mined copper dependent on sulphuric acid. Sprott projects data centres and energy-transition uses could take copper’s share of “strategic” demand to 45% by 2040, up from 32% in 2024.

    Technical Brief

    • London copper futures briefly traded at $14,000/t on Tuesday before retracing intraday gains.
    • Chinese state-owned trading houses issued a “healthy” copper demand outlook extending over the next decade.
    • Smelter maintenance is concentrated in Q2, with throughput typically ramping up again from Q3 onwards.
    • Sprott links additional supply risk to fuel availability constraints in Peru’s copper-mining and processing hubs.
    • Copper prices have already rebounded from an earlier 10% drop during the first month of the Iran conflict.

    Our Take

    The linkage between copper and sulfuric acid in this piece echoes our 5 May 2026 coverage of Sprott’s copper outlook, underscoring that disruptions in sulfur and sulfuric acid supply chains can constrain up to roughly a fifth of mined copper output and tighten the market faster than demand growth alone would suggest.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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