In our inaugural blog post, CopperCorp CEO Steve Swatton talks about the world’s dire need to find more copper.
CopperCorp begins trading on the TSX Venture Exchange today. It’s a big milestone for our shareholders, of course.
But there’s a bigger, macro story encapsulated in CopperCorp’s new tagline: “Copper. The Essential Investment.”
The world faces unprecedented challenges, including climate change, renewable energy, infrastructure and growing affluence that demands ever more resources. We can’t meet any of these challenges without copper. In fact, we need to find, and produce, way more copper than we have today. Some estimates predict we’ll need nine times more annual copper production by 2035.
It’s a daunting challenge. So how do we get there?
Copper recycling helps, meeting about 35% of the world’s copper needs. But that means 65% must come from existing mines. In short, we’ll have to find a lot more copper that can be mined economically.
Exploration is a tough business. About 1 of every 10,000 mineral discoveries becomes a profitable mine. That means the industry must invest heavily in exploration, turning over a lot of rocks to find those rare, economical deposits.
Since we can’t move forward without major copper discoveries, let’s source them responsibly. Let’s find a healthy balance by exploring and mining in secure, lawful jurisdictions with stable, accountable governments that respect people and the environment. It’s the responsible way. And from our perspective, it’s the only way.
This need for balance is why we’re exploring for copper in Tasmania, one of the world’s safest and most responsible mining jurisdictions. Mineral extraction and processing represent Tasmania’s largest export industry and account for more than 50 per cent of mercantile exports. We also like that Tasmania is powered 100% by renewable energy.
In other words, we’re in the right place at the right time, when the world needs to dramatically increase its copper resources.
I look forward to sharing more of our thoughts and insights in future posts.
Steve Swatton, CEO