Copper prices are soaring📈 ⚠️The biggest miners are producing less. 🇦🇺BHP, the world's largest copper miner, produced 492kt in Q2. That's down 5% year on year. It expects to produce 1.65 to 1.80 Mt next year, against 1.95 Mt this year. 🇨🇱Codelco's own mines produced 564kt in H1, down 11%. Freeport's output fell after the mud rush at 🇮🇩Grasberg. Meanwhile prices have jumped. BHP's average realised copper price was $5.74/lb this financial year, up 35%. Freeport got $6.17/lb in Q2, against $4.54 a year earlier. The reason is geology. The giant mines are getting old. At Escondida, the world's largest copper mine, ore grade fell from 1.02% to 0.90%. That means more rock moved for less metal. New mines take more than a decade to build, so high prices can't fix supply quickly. The incentives point one way… Miners earn more from fewer tonnes: Codelco's H1 EBITDA rose 68%. Grids, data centres and EVs all need copper, and US power demand alone is heading for a fourth straight record.