During a detailed presentation focusing on the outlook for global copper, Ryan Bontes from Intierra Resource Intelligence stated that between January and June this year, 359 projects announced copper drill assay results compared to 257 in the same period last year.

Bontes stated, “This is a noteworthy result for global copper projects. It is even more significant when you consider gold’s incremental increase of 29 percent, and uranium’s full 24 percent drop.”

The presentation also highlighted that 44 percent of the 2010 copper projects were at the exploration stage. This indicates that projects are being acquired at an earlier lifecycle stage than they have in the past.

In terms of future copper production data Bontes pointed to 2012 and 2014 as being particularly important, with forecast incremental production increases of 1716(Kt) and 1953(Kt), respectively.