Copper projects: Tracking approval rates

New copper projects must be sanctioned to keep up with increasing primary copper demand. While the requirement for mine supply ("supply gap") is not significantly different to historic long-term deficits, the volume of advanced-stage projects is much smaller than a decade ago. Analysis of historical data shows that the rate of sanctioning has varied significantly over the past 15 years. This insight contains: • The rate of project sanctioning over last 15 years, broken down by region and project type • Delays and cancellations to projects sanctioned each year • Investigation of price and medium-term outlook as driver of FIDs • Comparison of current project pipeline to past sanctioning • The rate of project sanctioning needed to fulfil required mine production The slide deck is available to download as a pdf along with selected data.