AI‑Driven Copper Rush

Tech giants are now signing offtake and optimisation deals with miners to secure domestic copper, using novel extraction methods (bioleaching) and providing cloud analytics in return. This is reviving marginal mines and changing where and how new mineral output is brought online. — If AI/data‑center firms systematically lock early supplies, they will rewire mining policy, accelerate low‑grade extraction technologies, and make critical‑materials strategy a central element of industrial and climate policy.