Copper crossed $6.70 per pound on Wednesday October 14, reaching its highest level in 18 months. The trigger: the breakdown of wage talks at BHP's Escondida mine in Chile, which alone produces roughly 8% of the world's copper supply. Africa — the continent with the largest known reserves — is at the centre of global attention.
Escondida: the world's largest copper mine under pressure
The Escondida mine, operated by BHP in Chile's Atacama Desert, produces around 1.1 million tonnes of copper a year. Wage negotiations with unions collapsed on October 14, opening the door to a work stoppage that could remove up to 500,000 tonnes from global supply in the event of a prolonged strike. According to Bloomberg, workers are demanding an 8% pay rise and a $20,000 per-employee bonus — terms BHP management has rejected. A union vote is expected to break the deadlock within days.
Record prices: a windfall for Africa's copper producers
Zambia — the continent's top copper producer, with roughly 900,000 tonnes per year — and the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose mines yielded 2.7 million tonnes in 2025, stand to gain directly from this price surge. At $6.70 a pound, export revenues for both countries increase by hundreds of millions of dollars. The DRC in particular is pursuing a local transformation policy enforced since 2023, aimed at capturing more value-added before export.
A heavier bill for Indian Ocean importers
While African copper exporters stand to benefit, import-dependent economies — including Réunion, Mauritius and Madagascar — face additional pressure on industrial and construction costs. Copper goes into electrical cables, piping, and air-conditioning equipment, all sectors growing rapidly across the archipelago. With Brent crude also at $106 a barrel, the combination of expensive copper and high oil prices is tightening import bills across the entire region.
Why it matters
Beyond the Escondida episode, the structural tension in copper markets reflects the demand from electrical infrastructure tied to the energy transition: each electric vehicle requires four to five times more copper than an internal combustion car, and solar and wind farms are also heavy consumers. For Africa, which holds a major share of global reserves, this represents both a significant revenue opportunity and a sovereignty challenge — transforming the metal on the continent rather than continuing to export it raw.