Copper demand to double by 2035 as mining struggles to keep pace: Teck CEO

Copper demand is on track to double by 2035, yet supply is expected to be roughly 30% short of what the market will need, creating a deficit equivalent to about 30 tier 1 mines, Jonathan Price, president and CEO of Teck Resources, said Oct. 15.

A looming copper deficit has dominated industry discussion in recent years as the global energy transition creates fresh demand for it.

"We continue to see significant growth in demand for copper, and we continue to see the supply side struggle," Price said at the Financial Times Metals and Mining Summit in London. "We see effectively a doubling of demand by 2035, and we see supply shortages of around 30% in 2035." He added that the shortfall "could be 30 tier 1 mines that are needed to fill that gap."

Price tied that outlook directly to the strategic logic behind the proposed Anglo American-Teck merger, known as "Anglo Tech" during the discussion. He said the merged company would focus on copper growth while maintaining exposure to Anglo American's iron ore business and Teck's zinc portfolio.

"The focus is very much around copper, and it's very much from a growth perspective about investment in copper to create new supply," he said.

According to Price, the industry faces a growing mismatch between demand growth and the pace at which new mines can be developed. He pointed to more than a decade of underinvestment in exploration, rising project costs, permitting challenges and increasingly complex mine construction.

"There's been an underinvestment in exploration for more than a decade now," Price said. "Building mines is becoming more expensive, technically more challenging." He noted that while governments are trying to accelerate permitting, it still takes "a long, long time" to bring new projects into production.

Price highlighted the growing importance of electrification and artificial intelligence as drivers of copper consumption. The sector expects data center requirements to triple by 2035, intensifying demand for power infrastructure and the metals needed to build it, he added.

"We see a tripling of data center requirements out to 2035," Price said. "It can take six months to build a data center. It can take 15 years to discover, permit and build a new mine. So there's a significant time-based disconnect here between supply and demand."

Price argued that scale will become increasingly important as companies seek to finance and develop large, world-class projects. While emphasizing that "value" remains more important than size alone, he said consolidation could help miners attract broader investor interest and strengthen balance sheets needed to fund future growth.

Looking beyond copper, Price said governments are increasingly prioritizing supply security for critical minerals, describing a shift from "just in time" to "just in case" thinking. He argued that miners now occupy a strategic role in supporting industrial policy, electrification and AI development.

"The industry has never been more complex, more important and therefore more interesting than it is today," Price said. "We truly are strategic actors here."