Copper exploration budgets increased 21% to $2.79 billion in 2022, its highest level since 2014, driven by strong prices through 2021 and into the start of 2022.

^{Data as of December 2022 | Source: S&P Global Commodity Insights}

Budgets for copper are very much focused on Latin America, which hosts the largest reserves.

^{Data as of December 2022 | Source: S&P Global Commodity Insights}

Elevated copper exploration budgets over the past several years have not led to a meaningful increase in the number of recent major discoveries. While the volume has increased by 50 million tonnes compared to our analyst last year, most of the increase came from assets that were discovered in 1990s.

^{Data as of December 2022 | Source: S&P Global Commodity Insights}

S&P Global Commodity Insights produces content for distribution on S&P Capital IQ Pro

Copyright © 2022 by S&P Global Market Intelligence, a division of S&P Global Inc. All rights reserved. No content, including by framing or similar means, may be reproduced or distributed without the prior written permission of S&P Global Market Intelligence or its affiliates. The content is provided on an “as is” basis. If you wish to distribute this information, contact: market.intelligence@spglobal.com