Copper finds itself at a point where near term uncertainty and long term conviction are colliding in ways that are difficult to ignore. Market focus in recent weeks has been drawn to Indonesia, where the world’s second largest copper mine was forced into an abrupt shutdown. Against that backdrop, London Metal Exchange prices held just above ten thousand dollars per tonne, a level that signals both market tension and investor attention.
From the late 2020s onwards, copper is set to become increasingly scarce. Demand drivers are structural and difficult to dismiss. The electrification of grids, the roll out of large-scale battery energy storage systems, and the extraordinary buildout of data centres supporting artificial intelligence are all copper intensive. These are not transient themes but multi-year commitments that demand substantial quantities of the metal.
Forecasts are already shifting to reflect that imbalance. While expectations for 2026 have been trimmed to around $3.65 per pound, the longer term view has firmed. By 2028, analysts expect copper to fetch over $5 per pound, with the possibility of six dollars by 2030 if supply constraints intensify. Such projections rest on a widening deficit as supply struggles to keep pace with accelerating infrastructure demand.
Copper is a core industrial metal, used extensively in wiring, construction, power generation and increasingly in renewable energy and digital infrastructure. Its position at the heart of both traditional and emerging sectors makes it one of the most strategically significant commodities for the decade ahead.
Jubilee Metals Group plc (LON:JLP) is a diversified metal recovery business with a world-class portfolio of projects in South Africa and Zambia. The Company’s expanding multi-project portfolio across South Africa and Zambia provides exposure to a broad commodity basket including Platinum Group Metals, chrome, lead, zinc, vanadium, copper and cobalt.
