Mining leaders at the vanguard of the industry’s copper expansion efforts say acceleration of primary supply can’t happen without smarter technology use, collaboration and permitting.
Teck Resources CEO Jonathan Price told a major Chile mining forum forecast growth in demand for the metal could require the world’s biggest producing country to triple its circa-5.5 million tonnes annual output in the next 10-15 years, a feat that looks impossible without a material shift in approach.
Chile has a “generational opportunity to reinforce its leadership at the centre of the global copper future”, but must also lead the change, according to Price.
“The next generation of copper growth must be smarter. It must be more integrated, more capital disciplined and better aligned with host countries’ long-term interests by leveraging existing infrastructure expertise and proven assets,” he said of the broader challenge in front of the sector, which had a high level of executive representation at the 2026 World Copper Conference in Santiago.
Others agreed Chile had the geology, foundational IP and international connections to copper users to build on decades of market dominance. But the industry had to evolve.
