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Long-form research on live enterprise decisions. Publication is selective. Every number traces to a named source. No takes without evidence.

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Electoral and political intelligence 2026-04-26 10 minute read 16 sources

Chile 2025 to 2026 Cycle: The Boric Exit, the Right Reset, and the Copper Lithium Macro

Gabriel Boric leaves office on March 11, 2026, after a single constitutional term, two failed constitutional rewrites, a copper trough at Codelco, and a pension reform that took three years and arrived in the final stretch. The November 2025 first round and the December 2025 runoff put Jose Antonio Kast in La Moneda. The macro that follows is set by copper price, lithium royalty design, the IMF Article IV path, and migration normalization.

Chile closed the Boric administration with the lowest end of term approval since the return to democracy, two rejected constitutional drafts in twenty four months, the lowest Codelco copper output since 1998, and a National Lithium Strategy still in mid implementation. The November 16, 2025 first round produced Jose Antonio Kast of the Pa...

Industrial policy and supply chains 2026-04-26 12 min read 10 sources

Copper and the Electrification Supercycle: Why 2026 Breaks the Bear Case

Codelco below 1.4 million tonnes, Cobre Panama still cold, AI grid copper at 3 to 4 kg per kW, and Chinese smelter TC/RC at zero. The supply side is losing its argument.

The copper market enters 2026 with a supply book structurally short of the demand it has signed up to serve. Codelco is guiding sub 1.4 million tonnes of mined output, the lowest since 1998, while Freeport's Grasberg is past peak grade, BHP's Escondida is grinding through head grade decay, and Glencore's Collahuasi expansion remains stall...

Industrial policy and supply chains 2026-04-26 10 minute read 15 sources

Mongolia 2026: Oyu Tolgoi underground, Tavan Tolgoi coal, and the third neighbor hedge

Oyu Tolgoi is on a glide path to 500 thousand tonnes of copper a year by 2028. Tavan Tolgoi shipped a record 26.1 million tonnes of coal in 2024, more than 90 percent of it to China. Ulaanbaatar is using the resulting fiscal space to widen the third neighbor diplomacy with Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul, while keeping the Power of Siberia 2 file open. The squeeze is real: an enlarged 126 seat parliament, a 12.0 percent Chinggis bond coupon, and one buyer for almost every export cargo.

Mongolia entered 2026 with the strongest mining cash flow profile in its history. Oyu Tolgoi began sustainable underground production on March 13, 2023, and Rio Tinto reported 169 thousand tonnes of copper in concentrate from the mine in calendar 2024. Phase ramp targets 500 thousand tonnes a year on average from 2028 to 2030, which would...

Trade and tariff analytics 2026-04-26 9 minute read 5 sources

Peru Mining 2026: Copper Supply, Social Conflict, and the Tax Regime Test

Peru sits at the hinge of the global copper market. Las Bambas blockades, a recalibrated royalty regime, and the second-derivative of Chinese demand will decide whether 2.7 million tonnes is a floor or a ceiling for 2026 output.

Peru is the world's second largest copper producer and the marginal swing supplier into a market that the IEA, Wood Mackenzie, and the LME term-structure all describe as structurally tight through 2028. The country's 2026 trajectory hinges on three variables that rarely move in the same direction: mine site stability across the southern c...

Industrial policy and supply chains 2026-04-26 10 minute read 11 sources

Peru Mining Under Boluarte: Political Risk Through the 2026 Election Cycle

President Dina Boluarte enters her last full year of office with single digit approval, a fragmented Congress, and a copper sector that the state cannot afford to disturb. The April 2026 first round and June 2026 runoff will reset the rules under which Las Bambas, Quellaveco, and the Tia Maria pipeline operate.

Peru is the world's second largest copper producer at roughly 2.6 million tonnes per year, and its political settlement is the variable that decides whether the next administration can hold the line. President Dina Boluarte governs with approval near 5 percent, a Congress that has rejected three constitutional vacancia motions, and a memo...

Trade and tariff analytics 2026-04-25 10 min read 10 sources

Mongolia Copper: Oyu Tolgoi Underground as the 2026 Swing Factor

Oyu Tolgoi underground reaches commercial cadence in 2026, lifting Mongolia into the top tier of copper exporters and reshaping its fiscal, FX, and political risk profile.

Mongolia is on track to become a top five copper concentrate exporter by 2028, propelled by the Oyu Tolgoi (OT) underground panel cave operated by Rio Tinto. Sustained underground production began in March 2023 and is ramping toward a steady-state plateau of roughly 500,000 tonnes per year of contained copper from 2028 to 2036. For 2026, ...