In the early 2000s, China was in the middle of the biggest infrastructure build the world has ever seen. Transforming Shenzhen from a quiet fishing village into China’s Silicon Valley, building one of the world’s tallest buildings — the Shanghai World Financial Centre — and the Nest Olympic Stadium.
This created a massive copper squeeze world-wide. The price didn’t just drift higher. It surged a massive 140% in just 18 months. Take a look:
Today, copper is woven through everything: smartphones, electric grids, EVs, AI data centres, even the backbone of military infrastructure. It’s literally the metal the modern world runs on. And we’re staring down a massive 7.7 million-ton-per-year shortfall. Morgan Stanley predicts we’ll see “the most severe deficit in over two decades by 2026.” If they’re right, copper prices could eclipse the 2005 run.
BHP is widely recognised as the world's largest copper producer, a position it solidified in 2024 and continues to hold in late 2025, thanks to major operations like Escondida in Chile and its growing portfolio in Australia (Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill, Carrapateena).
I have been a rusted-on BHP shareholder for two decades now, first for its iron ore, and now for its copper which makes up 45% of its earnings.
