The red metal, #copper, has been keeping its name out of the papers in recent months. Since staging a terrific rally from February to May, copper has had trouble finding its footing. 

Last week, copper fell after traders panned #China's stimulus plans as underwhelming. However, the long term fundamentals in favor of higher copper prices have not changed one bit. 

In fact, the copper supply constraints are stronger than ever before. These constraints are underpinned by...

🔵Declining ore grades at existing mines
🔵Lack of investment in exploration and development in recent years
🔵Lengthy permitting timelines
🔵 Deeper ore bodies that makes it more expensive to build new mines
🔵Punitive cost of capital that makes building new mega-mines (the kind of mines we need) an unappealing proposition
🔵 Geopolitical risks (see Cobre Panama)

The global #mining industry is not making a strong effort to bridge the looming global copper supply/demand deficits, and governments are behind the curve (as usual). This creates a potentially explosive situation shaping up in copper over the next few years. 

Global infrastructure initiatives, grid modernization, booming growth in #AI data centers are require enormous amounts of copper. Regardless of who is POTUS, these trends are only getting strong. 

I welcome the recent quiet in copper, a soothing calm before the storm begins 🌊🌩️