Executives see increasing signs of a shift to direct deals with cable manufacturers, car companies and other big buyers
The world’s largest copper miners predict closer collaboration with end users from carmakers to utilities, upending a hitherto fragmented supply chain as shortages of the metal crucial to green technologies are set to flare up in the years ahead.
Executives at leading mining groups see increasing signs of a shift to direct deals with cable manufacturers and other big buyers to secure supply of the “metal of electrification” at an affordable price.
“Ultimately those that will be utilising the copper — whether that is for charging stations, grid buildout or vehicles — will start to get more interested in how they access this copper,” said Jonathan Price, chief executive of Teck Resources, a Canadian copper and zinc producer.
“We will start to see more interest in direct linkages between the miners and those ultimate end users — we are starting to see and hear more of that.”
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