America needs a stronger
copper supply chain.
Copper demand is growing faster than supply.
Copper demand grows 50% by 2040.
World copper demand is projected to grow from 28 Mt a year to 42 Mt by 2040. U.S. demand is projected to roughly double by 2035.
S&P Global, Jan. 2026 · S&P Global, Aug. 2023Half the growth is electrification.
Copper carries electricity. Half the growth to 2040 is power grids, electric vehicles, wind and solar, and battery storage. Construction and machinery add 5 Mt; AI and data centers add 2 Mt.
S&P Global, Jan. 2026Supply peaks in 2030, then declines.
Ore grades at existing mines are declining and project costs are rising. After 2030, the world’s mines produce less copper each year.
IEA 2025 · S&P Global, Jan. 2026A deposit found today would produce in the 2050s.
New discoveries have slowed sharply, and a U.S. copper mine takes about 29 years from discovery to production, counting projects still in development. The gap arrives in 2040, 15 years before that mine would open.
IEA 2025 · S&P Global Market Intelligence, 2024By 2040 the world is 10 Mt a year short.
A mine discovered today will not produce copper until the 2050s, so new discoveries cannot close the 2040 gap.
S&P Global, Jan. 2026Closing the gap takes exploration, mining, smelting and refining, all at once. Defer any one of them and the shortage lasts a generation.
Expand and strengthen America's copper supply chain from end to end.
Exploration
Eight copper-dominant exploration projects across Montana, Alaska, Nevada and Arizona, including a joint venture with Freeport-McMoRan and an option to joint venture with Rio Tinto Kennecott.
View exploration projectsOperations
Falcon is evaluating mining, smelting and refining projects in the United States, including a smelter in Arizona and a refinery on the Gulf Coast. The smelter would be the first new-build primary copper smelter in the United States in four decades. Falcon is evaluating several more in allied countries.
View operations