Rio Tinto chairman warns mining deals won’t solve supply crisis

Global mining mergers and acquisitions have surged in recent months as healthy cash flows and prospects for key energy metals encourage rapid additions of additional production. BHP Group Ltd. has been among the most active, targeting Filo Corp. after the world’s largest miner’s $49 billion bid for Anglo American Plc was rejected.

Rio, however, has been tight-lipped about the dealmaking space, instead pouring hundreds of millions into exploration, with a focus on copper and lithium. Still, Barton said the company is “looking at opportunities.”

“We’re just going to have to build more,” he said. “We’re going to have to mine, discover and extract more copper over the next 30 years.”

(Authors: Paul-Alain Hunt and Stephen Engle)

Read more: The copper merger and acquisition frenzy masks the hesitance of major mining companies to build