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Released March 12, 2025 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Exhibitors at last month's mining convention in Denver were more upbeat than they have been in years. The reason for the improved outlook partly came from last November's reelection of Republican Donald Trump as president, according to interviews with exhibitors at the annual MINEXCHANGE convention, sponsored by the Society of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME) (Englewood, Colorado). The event took place February 24-26.
"This is the third consecutive MINEXCHANGE event I have attended, and the mood this year was totally different--it was much more optimistic," said Sara Lowery Ng, a senior account executive with Industrial Info. "People were far more upbeat this year; I actually heard laughter occasionally." She spent one and one-half days walking the exhibit floor, where she estimated she spoke with more than 75 exhibitors, several of whom were Industrial Info clients.
Attendance at this year's MINEXCHANGE was up from prior years, which could signify greater confidence about the future among participants in the Metals & Minerals Industry. This year's event drew an estimated 7,050 registrants, slightly higher than last year's MINEXCHANGE event held in Phoenix, which drew about 6,971 registrants, an SME spokesperson told Industrial Info. But this year's event drew about 10% more registrants than the last time the MINEXCHANGE event was held in Denver, which was 2023. That event drew approximately 6,436 registrants.
For more on this year's MINEXCHANGE event, see March 4, 2025, article - SME Conference: Coal Has a Brighter Future -- Maybe, and March 10, 2025, article - How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Mining.
A booth representative from Emerson (NYSE:EMR) (St. Louis, Missouri), a large technology supplier to mining companies and other industries, said simple economics was driving greater interest in technologies that could cost-effectively increase production to meet strong demand.
"Mining companies are trying to do more and more with less and less, and in many cases, the quality of the resource being mined is declining, at least in North America," he said in a booth-side interview February 24. "Companies are looking to optimize their operations through technology, improve safety and cost-effectively meet demand."
Emerson is relatively insulated from the coal markets, the official said. Instead, the company's major mining clients extract copper, gold, silver and lithium.
As for the impact that Trump is having on the outlook for mining, he said, "it's a day-to-day thing. It's early, he's just getting started. Some days are better than others."
Another exhibitor, a representative from a major engineering & construction company, said, "It's too early to say for sure, but I think Trump 2.0 will be good for our industry. He's very pro-industry."
"It's simplistic to say, 'Biden bad, Trump good'," said a representative of another large firm exhibiting at MINEXCHANGE. "It's shades of gray." Some mines received permits along with grants from the Biden administration, he pointed out. The previous administration also provided a permit for South32 Limited (Perth, Australia) to open a mine 70 miles south of Tucson, Arizona, which will produce zinc, copper and silver. Construction of that mine began last summer.
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Mining & Minerals Project Database can click here for detailed project reports on the South32 mining project in Arizona.
He said he expects many proposed mining projects to move forward in the next few years, partly because they will get a friendlier reception at federal agencies and the White House when compared with Democratic presidencies.
Helping mining companies improve the reliability of the electric networks at their mines is an area of particular emphasis for this exhibitor, who Industrial Info interviewed February 24.
Some of the exhibitors' brighter outlook at the event could stem from commodity prices, which are high right now: Copper is nearing a historic high of $5 per pound, gold is fetching approximately $2,900 per ounce and silver is selling for roughly $33 per ounce. Relatively strong and consistent economic growth has propelled increased demand for these minerals in various industries, including manufacturing, auto-making and home-building.
One exhibitor, a provider of services and equipment to mining companies, is starting to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) tools within its company, automating certain processes such as accounts payable, training, safety and responses to requests for proposals (RFPs). "It's early days for AI, and we're taking a cautious approach." But he noted that AI increasingly was being used by several mining companies.
"Overall, this is a pretty interesting market," this representative told Industrial Info. "But the processes of our mining clients tend to be site specific, with a high degree of specialization. That makes it hard to generalize."
Lithium has drawn a lot of interest from mining companies, financiers and battery manufacturers in recent years, given that mineral's critical role in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, laptops, cell phones and other applications. But the enthusiasm for lithium appears to have cooled, judging from interviews with SME exhibitors February 24 and 25. That may have to do with its recent price. In 2022, the projected surge in global demand pushed prices for battery-grade lithium carbonite to $71,000 per metric ton, which is about five times higher than it was in a decade ago. But prices have plummeted in recent years, to an average of about $14,000 per metric ton in 2024 and as low as approximately $10,000 per metric ton this year.
In another exhibit-floor interview, Danny Slonka, a U.S.-based sales director for Continental AG (Hanover, Germany), said, "There is a huge global gap between demand and supply for copper. Mining companies need to invest in brownfield mines and greenfield mines. Copper prices today are good, but to the mining companies, they're never good enough." Copper and iron ore are Continental's fastest-growing minerals.
"Given the way 2025 has started, we expect this year to be better than last year," he said.
Unlike copper, gold or silver, the outlook for U.S. coal appears more mixed, exhibitors said in interviews. The White House is trying to boost coal use by clawing back federal financial support for renewable generation such as solar and wind. Hundreds of coal-fired generators have been closed over the last 15 years, but more recently strong electric demand growth has caused several utilities to push back the planned retirement dates for coal-fired generators.
For more on the changing market for coal, see March 4, 2025, article - SME Conference: Coal Has a Brighter Future -- Maybe, February 11, 2025, article - A Brighter Outlook for U.S. Thermal Coal Use is Taking Shape, and February 6, 2025, article -- Rising Electric Demand Growth Delays Retirement Dates for Coal-Fired Generation.
Another exhibitor told Industrial Info that "fear that coal use would drastically fall has given way to a confidence that coal will be here." He sees U.S. coal mines expanding and extending longwall mines. "Right now, it's quite stable and we don't see a decline."
Data centers, which have sparked so much discussion around power generation, are also huge users of copper, observed an exhibitor with a large engineering and construction firm. Large data centers can use up to 25 million feet of copper cable, another reason why copper prices are approaching historic peaks.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
"This is the third consecutive MINEXCHANGE event I have attended, and the mood this year was totally different--it was much more optimistic," said Sara Lowery Ng, a senior account executive with Industrial Info. "People were far more upbeat this year; I actually heard laughter occasionally." She spent one and one-half days walking the exhibit floor, where she estimated she spoke with more than 75 exhibitors, several of whom were Industrial Info clients.
Attendance at this year's MINEXCHANGE was up from prior years, which could signify greater confidence about the future among participants in the Metals & Minerals Industry. This year's event drew an estimated 7,050 registrants, slightly higher than last year's MINEXCHANGE event held in Phoenix, which drew about 6,971 registrants, an SME spokesperson told Industrial Info. But this year's event drew about 10% more registrants than the last time the MINEXCHANGE event was held in Denver, which was 2023. That event drew approximately 6,436 registrants.
For more on this year's MINEXCHANGE event, see March 4, 2025, article - SME Conference: Coal Has a Brighter Future -- Maybe, and March 10, 2025, article - How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Mining.
A booth representative from Emerson (NYSE:EMR) (St. Louis, Missouri), a large technology supplier to mining companies and other industries, said simple economics was driving greater interest in technologies that could cost-effectively increase production to meet strong demand.
"Mining companies are trying to do more and more with less and less, and in many cases, the quality of the resource being mined is declining, at least in North America," he said in a booth-side interview February 24. "Companies are looking to optimize their operations through technology, improve safety and cost-effectively meet demand."
Emerson is relatively insulated from the coal markets, the official said. Instead, the company's major mining clients extract copper, gold, silver and lithium.
As for the impact that Trump is having on the outlook for mining, he said, "it's a day-to-day thing. It's early, he's just getting started. Some days are better than others."
Another exhibitor, a representative from a major engineering & construction company, said, "It's too early to say for sure, but I think Trump 2.0 will be good for our industry. He's very pro-industry."
"It's simplistic to say, 'Biden bad, Trump good'," said a representative of another large firm exhibiting at MINEXCHANGE. "It's shades of gray." Some mines received permits along with grants from the Biden administration, he pointed out. The previous administration also provided a permit for South32 Limited (Perth, Australia) to open a mine 70 miles south of Tucson, Arizona, which will produce zinc, copper and silver. Construction of that mine began last summer.
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Mining & Minerals Project Database can click here for detailed project reports on the South32 mining project in Arizona.
He said he expects many proposed mining projects to move forward in the next few years, partly because they will get a friendlier reception at federal agencies and the White House when compared with Democratic presidencies.
Helping mining companies improve the reliability of the electric networks at their mines is an area of particular emphasis for this exhibitor, who Industrial Info interviewed February 24.
Some of the exhibitors' brighter outlook at the event could stem from commodity prices, which are high right now: Copper is nearing a historic high of $5 per pound, gold is fetching approximately $2,900 per ounce and silver is selling for roughly $33 per ounce. Relatively strong and consistent economic growth has propelled increased demand for these minerals in various industries, including manufacturing, auto-making and home-building.
One exhibitor, a provider of services and equipment to mining companies, is starting to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) tools within its company, automating certain processes such as accounts payable, training, safety and responses to requests for proposals (RFPs). "It's early days for AI, and we're taking a cautious approach." But he noted that AI increasingly was being used by several mining companies.
"Overall, this is a pretty interesting market," this representative told Industrial Info. "But the processes of our mining clients tend to be site specific, with a high degree of specialization. That makes it hard to generalize."
Lithium has drawn a lot of interest from mining companies, financiers and battery manufacturers in recent years, given that mineral's critical role in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, laptops, cell phones and other applications. But the enthusiasm for lithium appears to have cooled, judging from interviews with SME exhibitors February 24 and 25. That may have to do with its recent price. In 2022, the projected surge in global demand pushed prices for battery-grade lithium carbonite to $71,000 per metric ton, which is about five times higher than it was in a decade ago. But prices have plummeted in recent years, to an average of about $14,000 per metric ton in 2024 and as low as approximately $10,000 per metric ton this year.
In another exhibit-floor interview, Danny Slonka, a U.S.-based sales director for Continental AG (Hanover, Germany), said, "There is a huge global gap between demand and supply for copper. Mining companies need to invest in brownfield mines and greenfield mines. Copper prices today are good, but to the mining companies, they're never good enough." Copper and iron ore are Continental's fastest-growing minerals.
"Given the way 2025 has started, we expect this year to be better than last year," he said.
Unlike copper, gold or silver, the outlook for U.S. coal appears more mixed, exhibitors said in interviews. The White House is trying to boost coal use by clawing back federal financial support for renewable generation such as solar and wind. Hundreds of coal-fired generators have been closed over the last 15 years, but more recently strong electric demand growth has caused several utilities to push back the planned retirement dates for coal-fired generators.
For more on the changing market for coal, see March 4, 2025, article - SME Conference: Coal Has a Brighter Future -- Maybe, February 11, 2025, article - A Brighter Outlook for U.S. Thermal Coal Use is Taking Shape, and February 6, 2025, article -- Rising Electric Demand Growth Delays Retirement Dates for Coal-Fired Generation.
Another exhibitor told Industrial Info that "fear that coal use would drastically fall has given way to a confidence that coal will be here." He sees U.S. coal mines expanding and extending longwall mines. "Right now, it's quite stable and we don't see a decline."
Data centers, which have sparked so much discussion around power generation, are also huge users of copper, observed an exhibitor with a large engineering and construction firm. Large data centers can use up to 25 million feet of copper cable, another reason why copper prices are approaching historic peaks.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
