As copper prices reach new highs, American mining giants are competing with new technologies, attempting to extract "gold" from old mining areas

As copper prices soar, American mining giants are betting on a technology aimed at extracting low-grade copper from waste piles to meet the growing global demand.

Morenci, as an American mining giant, is currently developing a technology that attempts to extract low-grade copper previously considered too expensive and difficult to process from waste piles.

According to BHP, the copper used in data centers will increase sixfold by 2050—this technology, known as sulfide leaching, if successfully commercialized, will provide investors with a shortcut to avoid the high costs and complex approvals of new mines.

This is a technological race and a crucial battle concerning the future of global mining.

A New Hope for the Century-Old Copper Mine: The "Hidden Treasure" of the Arizona Mining District

Last week, copper prices hit a historic high on the New York Mercantile Exchange. As of the time of writing, the U.S. benchmark copper rose 0.46% to $5.1125 per pound, with copper prices up 28% year-to-date.

According to Xinhua News Agency, U.S. President Trump on the 20th invoked the Defense Production Act to enhance domestic production capacity for critical minerals and rare earths. Foreign media reported that the executive order requires federal agencies to accelerate domestic production and processing of key minerals such as lithium, copper, and gold to reduce foreign dependence and strengthen supply chain security.

These measures have heightened market tensions, with traders preparing for potential U.S. copper import tariffs. In the Morenci mining district of Arizona, Freeport-McMoRan Inc. is attempting to develop technology capable of extracting low-grade copper from waste piles.

These waste piles contain nearly 10 million tons of copper, which is crucial for meeting global electrification demands. As the owner of the Morenci copper mine, Freeport-McMoRan is developing a technology that attempts to extract low-grade copper previously considered too expensive and difficult to process from these massive waste piles.

Robert Pollock, the site manager of Morenci, stated:

“For a long time, we believed these materials were unrecoverable, but now, all this historical copper—we are pursuing it.”

The Business Stakes Behind the Numbers

Freeport-McMoRan has extracted 100,000 tons of copper from the Morenci mine using leaching methods and plans to produce 400,000 tons by 2030, enough to provide copper wire for over 36,000 electric vehicles.

"This is equivalent to the output of a major copper mine anywhere in the world," said the company's CEO Kathleen Quirk last year.

Analysts believe that while sulfide leaching technology is theoretically feasible, its large-scale application still faces challenges Each company is developing slightly different technologies to adapt to their respective mining geological conditions. The key to success lies in economic feasibility. Professor Corby Anderson from the Colorado School of Mines stated that previous attempts to improve copper recovery rates through sulfide leaching ended due to economic infeasibility.

Other major copper producers, including BHP, Antofagasta, and Rio Tinto through its Nuton division, are also pushing to develop sulfide leaching technology. Some companies have outsourced this work to startups like Jetti Resources and Ceibo, which claim to have made progress on their own solutions.

As global copper demand continues to grow, the success of sulfide leaching technology will determine the supply landscape of this important metal, thereby affecting its price trends and investment opportunities.

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