Robert Friedland
@robert_ivanhoe • 43,894 subscribers
Founder @IvanhoeMines_ | @IvanhoeElectric | Everything affects everything, everywhere, all the time 🌎
Videos
On December 15, 2023, LME copper settled at $8,471 per tonne ($3.85 per pound). Today, May 25, 2026, the LME price is $13,660 per tonne, with U.S. copper trading (at a premium) at around $6.46 per pound. That’s a rise of over 60% in just two and a half years. The $15,000 per tonne threshold, needed to incentivise meaningful new supply, which I highlighted back in 2023, is now less than 10% away. Yet global copper supply is weaker today and costs are higher. Meanwhile, the demand for copper from the world’s two largest economies is unprecedented. In the US, potential Section 232 tariffs have put imported copper in the crosshairs, while in Asia we’re entering peak Chinese demand season. There are no semiconductors, no data centers, no electrification without copper… which is why the price of the world’s essential electrical conductor now trades in tandem with Nvidia and the AI boom. Add to the mix EVs, robotics, and defense demand, and copper’s future price direction is clear. In another two and a half years, $20,000 per tonne or $9+ per pound is realistic. Watch the LME warehouses closely and see where the metal actually moves… the world is finally waking up to the true value of copper.
Robert Friedland55,579 views • 19 days ago
Thank you, Donald J. Trump, for the invitation to the Oval Office today… Mining is a critical industry vital to the re-industrialization of the United States' economy. Today mining as a sector only represents 1% of the S&P500... However, with your leadership and the Project Vault initiative, I am super excited for the future of this incredible industry in America and its future impact for the American economy.
Robert Friedland318,258 views • 4 months ago
I’m telling you… It’s copper copper copper copper copper.
Robert Friedland226,732 views • 4 months ago
To build a data center the size of Manhattan, as Mr. Zuckerberg intends to, we need some metals that you’ve probably never heard of in quantities than you cannot fathom… These metals are not just 1 or 2 letters on your periodic table that you glanced at while daydreaming in Chemistry class… They are critical to national security. I explained why you really should care about supply chains at USC’s Energy Business Summit…
Robert Friedland134,227 views • 3 months ago
Back in late 2023 when I appeared on Bloomberg, we were already flagging tight smelting conditions and supply challenges in the copper market. Prices were at approx. $8,500/tonne at the time ... people were questioning copper demand dynamics amid high rates and Chinese economic conditions. We looked beyond the near-term noise at growing grid investment demands, national security issues, growing supply shocks, and the challenges in bringing new mines to market. Today copper is well over $10,000/tonne and rising ... largely due to the issues we discussed almost two years ago when I said "nearly any disruption could result in a sharp upward move in prices":👇
Robert Friedland109,215 views • 8 months ago
We took to the stage 32 years ago to deliver the keynote at the very first Mining Indaba... and we have spoken here every year since. Data centres did not exist 32 years ago, and therefore nor did the term critical minerals… In recent years, as the world has rapidly advanced, a message we have regularly repeated is that not only is the African continent currently a major source of these critical minerals, but the continent will be increasingly relied on in the future.
Robert Friedland38,777 views • 3 months ago
It's been three years since this fireside with Erik Schatzker at Bloomberg Live’s QatarEconForum in 2023. The message is even truer now than it was then: copper is fundamental to the global economy and when it comes to supply, there’s just not enough of it. Even as the world desperately needs more copper mines, we’re seeing supply constraints at existing mines like never before. Meanwhile, demand is gathering steam. Drivers like war and the need to replenish armaments – sadly - and AI are adding to the picture. New Yorkers HAVE become more thoughtful about the source of their ham sandwiches. They’re starting to get the picture, but we’re still in the early innings both in terms of the structural constraints and the understanding of those constraints. Since the day of that conversation 3 years ago, the price of copper has risen 77% from $3.64 per pound to $6.45 today.
Robert Friedland11,982 views • 1 month ago
The world needs to produce larger quantities of healthy food… and we need a new, better way without continuing to use the harmful chemical herbicides that damage our natural environment. We have launched #iTerra, which uses I-Pulse Group’s proprietary pulsed power technology and #AI to detect and kill weeds at the root with a concentrated electrical pulse. We do this without harming crops, disrupting soil microbiology or leaving any chemical residues. The dead weeds then remain in the soil, where they naturally decompose, supporting long-term crop performance. This is an incredible breakthrough in agricultural technology… watch this space for more!
Robert Friedland19,679 views • 2 months ago
We’re working round the clock to knock the cover off the ball in our support for U.S. domestic mineral exploration… and to mine, baby mine! U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said during this Bloomberg interview: “There’s been an attack on American energy in this country, but even longer than that there’s been an attack on mining in our country … Just like President Trump says; ‘drill, baby drill’ we’ve got to get back to ‘mine, baby mine.’ The U.S. graduated 36,000 lawyers last year, and about 300 people with mining and metallurgical degrees.”
Robert Friedland24,468 views • 4 months ago
Data centers are already here, and they’re here to stay. They’re only going to get bigger, use vastly more power, and require millions of tonnes of copper at a scale we simply do not have the capacity to mine yet… We looked at one Microsoft baby data center and found that it used 2,177 tonnes of copper. This was just one tiny data center. No one has found as much copper as the Ivanhoe group, but we cannot rest on our laurels. We must keep discovering new deposits, building new mines and producing more copper if we can hope to keep GDP growth at 2% and build a better world for our children and grandchildren… Our gratitude, as always, to BMO Metals and Mining in its 35th edition for providing a tier one platform to discuss what’s really needed.
Robert Friedland15,677 views • 2 months ago
The world needs astronomical amounts of copper over the next 20 years. Here is a collection of televised predictions I made about copper over the past 4 years. It did not require clairvoyance to predict where the price of copper is going. Copper is up again this morning at over $5.00/lb (~$11,000/tonne)
Robert Friedland25,564 views • 7 months ago
I am impressed to see the commitment by the United States Government in strengthening their economic cooperation with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Last week, a delegation of more than 200 representatives from the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo visited Washington to discuss expanding economic cooperation between these two great countries. In attendance from the Congolese side were the highest levels of Government, including; Prime Minister, Judith Suminwa Tuluka; Deputy Prime Minsiter, Minister of Interior, Jacquemain Shabani Lukoo; Minister of Communication & Media, Patrick Muyaya; Minister of Mines, Louis Watum Kabamba; Minister of Energy, Aimé Molendo Sakombi; Minister of External Commerce, Julien Paluku; Minister of Agriculture, Muhindo Nzangi; Minister of Higher Education, Marie-Thérèse Sombo; Minister of Infrastructure, John Banza Lunda; Governor of the Central Bank, André Wameso; Governor of Lualaba Province, Fifi Masuka Saini; Governor of Haut-Katanga Province, Martin Kazembe; and by no means least my great friend the General Manager of the Autorité de Régulation de la sous-traitance dans le Secteur Privé (ARSP), Miguel Kashal Katemb.
Robert Friedland21,524 views • 7 months ago
Speaking at the Astana International Forum 2025 in Kazakhstan...
Robert Friedland25,802 views • 1 year ago
