Copper Supply is Breaking.
For 50 years, nickel laterites tried one flowsheet after another. Each generation reinvented the process. Each one broke. Over $35B+ was lost across twelve deposits because flowsheets failed, not the geology.
Copper is now on the same path. The industry is making bigger bets on worse ore with less time to get it right. Declining grades force a shift to leaching, but current point solutions (individual chemistries, sensors, and heating) are applied in isolation.
Mining is fragmented. Billions are lost.
~20 Mt
Annual new copper supply needed by 2035.
0.6%
Average Cu ore grade today (down from 1.5%).