According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the copper market grew by around 50 percent between 2017 and 2022, reaching nearly $200 billion.

The amount of copper consumed worldwide has doubled in 20 years.

On Thursday, Australian mining giant BHP said it has made a $38.8 billion takeover bid for British rival Anglo American, a colossal deal with the potential to fundamentally reshape the sector.

Both companies have been wrestling with the transition away from traditional money makers such as gas and coal, increasingly eyeing opportunities to mine metals and critical minerals.

Before the transition copper was primarily used in construction, electrical wiring and kitchen utensils.

But its exceptional conductivity and ductility -- the capacity to bend without breaking -- have made it a crucial product for renewable energy sector.

"If the world is moving towards a greener future, copper is the new oil," said Kathleen Brooks, an analyst at XBT.

Upgrades and modernisations to the electrical grid to handle rising energy consumption are significantly driving the demand for the metal.

It is also an essential element for electric vehicles, which use much more wiring than internal combustion engine vehicles.

Ole Hansen, an analyst at Saxobank, told AFP the metal is "crucial" for the green transition and "renewable energy infrastructure, given its use in the wiring and conductors of solar panels, wind turbines, and related equipment".

Another use, fuelling its demand, is in the manufacture of energy storage solutions such as batteries, he said.

A battery-powered electric vehicle, for example, required three times more copper than a vehicle with an internal combustion engine.

The growth in copper demand has even made it an economic barometer with high demand for the metal typically aligning with global economic growth.

At the same time, concerns about supply disruptions are being felt amid strikes, geopolitical tensions, new regulations and declining copper grades in ageing deposits -- which lead to reduced metal recovery from the mined rock, City Index analyst Fawad Razaqzada told AFP.

Fears of a significant copper deficit on the global market have buoyed prices since the start of February.

On the London Metal Exchange (LME), the price of the metal has risen by about 15 percent in 2024, nearly reaching $10,000 per ton on Monday, its highest level in two years on the London Metal Exchange.

"Mineral exploration is an incredibly long process," said Dan Coatsworth, an investment analyst at AJ Bell.

"It often takes ten years between discovering a copper source and its extraction as part of a commercial mining operation."

Finding copper in the first place is also challenging, especially "enough material (in the rock) for the extraction to be economically viable," he added.

"It is therefore easier to purchase a rival mining company that already has proven resources."

BHP has signalled in recent years its growing appetite for copper, an increasingly in-demand metal that is playing a key role in global energy transitions.

The IEA lists copper -- commonly used in electrical wiring -- as of "high importance" for the development of solar panels, electricity networks, electric vehicles and rechargeable batteries.

BHP completed the $6 billion acquisition of Australian copper miner Oz Minerals in May last year.

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ANGLO AMERICAN