Mining Review Africa
China will remain a key driver of global commodity demand but India – the world’s fastest growing economy – and Indonesia’s emergence as Asia’s new rising tiger – will put added pressure on minerals supply.
Speaking at the Paydirt 2018 Africa Down Under mining conference in Perth, EMR Capital Executive Chairman, Owen Hegarty, warned that future resources supply would be constrained. “Investment in the sector remains at trough levels,” Hegarty said.
“Future supply constraints will parallel the more than halving in minerals exploration spend, particularly for the global non-ferrous exploration budget. “And this at a time the global economy itself remains healthy.”
Hegarty pointed to genuine fears about impacts on resources commodities of a trade war between majors and the United States – with copper pundits pricing in a greater than 0.5% drag on global growth due to the uncertainy about economic policy within the resources powerhouses.
“By any examination, however, the global economy is expected to double by 2050 and this will be led by the emerging seven top economics – China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Indonesia, and Turkey,” Hegarty said.
“The United States will still rank as the world’s third largest economy by 2050 but the seven emerging economies will be those with the tiller in their hand.”
Australia would miss the cut in the top 15 economies in 30 years’ time, those slots taken up by Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Saudia Arabia, Nigeria and Egypt.
For the rest of this article: https://www.miningreview.com/crunch-time-coming-for-minerals-supply-as-economic-powerhouses-drive-demand/