Robert Friedland
@robert_ivanhoe
Increasingly extreme weather, due to the century-high intensity of this year’s El Niño, is significantly disrupting everything around our planet, including copper mine supply.
In mid-July, flooding created severe power outages in Chile, leading to mine stoppages. In August, severe droughts in Papua New Guinea led to critically low water levels on the Fly River, the largest by discharge volume in the Oceania region. Low water levels are affecting shipments from the OK Tedi copper mine, which exports 250,000-400,000 tonnes of copper-gold-silver concentrate 850 kilometres down the river every year.
While El Niño is expected to persist into early 2027… its impact will last much longer. Everyone is now forced to rethink the climate impact of their supply chains… as well as the impact on our everyday lives.
There is no easy copper supply anywhere in the world anymore…