Base Metals : In a wide-ranging interview on Monday August 11, John Slaven, the chief executive officer of copper technology firm Jetti Resources, told Fastmarkets that he believes the US could reduce its copper deficit by as much as 60% almost overnight, using existing infrastructure, mined ore and a commercially proven leaching technology.
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The issue is that the mining industry needs a push to adopt the solution – and maybe a nudge from policymakers, Slaven said.
“[US] President [Donald] Trump’s objective is clear – the US needs to become self-sufficient in minerals such as copper,” he added. “Tariffs are one lever to pull], but I think there are a lot of other levers as well.”
Despite its mineral wealth, the US imports large volumes of copper. The problem is not resources, but under-utilized capacity and insufficient investment, Slaven said.
Many domestic US copper deposits consist of lower-grade primary sulfide ores or complex copper ores that are expensive or difficult to process using traditional smelting and refining methods. Meanwhile, traditional smelting and refining facilities are costly to build, slow to expand and face significant environmental and regulatory challenges.
“The US has a supply-demand deficit, which is counter-intuitive, given how much copper resource there is in the US,” he said. We’ve got resources in the ground and we’re actually generating a lot of copper scrap.”
Copper concentrates from mines are often exported because the US lacks sufficient smelting and refining capacity. That creates a situation where US-produced copper must be shipped abroad – often to China – before it returns in usable form.
“There’s got to be some sort of support for miners to build smelters,” Slaven said. “But that’s going to be many billions of dollars and decades in the making.”
Neal Bhai Reports / New Delhi / India