Robert Friedland, Goldman Sachs light up copper

Copper's centrality to the new economy makes it potentially destabilizing as countries scramble for more supply, said Robert Friedland who gave opening remarks at the CRU conference this past week.

On Friday editor Neils Christensen, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and mining audiences manager Michael McCrae recorded a podcast with guest Ryan King, Vice President Corporate Development at Calibre Mining. The panelists discussed gold and inflation, as well as rising commodity prices due to energy transition and metals needed to build future infrastructure. The group noted Friedland's remarks, as well as the copper note published by Goldman Sachs.

On Tuesday Friedland gave the keynote at the CRU World Copper Conference. He is advancing his massive tier-one Kamoa copper mine in the DRC set to officially open this year.

Copper will be key to the energy transition as countries build more electric vehicles powered by renewable energy. Under-investment and lack of tier one mines makes copper a potentially destabilizing force as countries classify certain metals as strategic. At the conference Friedland said copper is a "national security issue."  

Goldman Sachs also plumped for copper this week. Analysts at Goldman declared the metal “the new oil” and predicted that the copper price would reach $6.80 per pound by 2025.

Copper was up about 3% for the week, and as of Friday June copper futures were $4.17 per lb.

In February copper hit a multi-year high.

Calibre Mining operates the El Limon and La Libertad gold mines in Nicaragua. 2021 gold production is expected to be between 170,000 - 180,000 ounces.