I have to give credit to the average Walmart shopper over mining executives preparing for the copper supply crunch. If a shopper hears that there maybe a toilet paper shortage, within hours they are stocked up. 

This copper  shortage talk has been going on for decades yet you still can read about companies looking to increase their supply. We have deposits, yet it does not appear as anyone is scratching on our door. 

There are other reasons to act as well. This from the article FFoxie posted,

>There literally are a handful of teams recognised around the world who are good at building and growing production at copper mines,” Mr Snowdon said.

“Even if you decide today, we are going to spend several billion on a new copper mine, you’re still going to struggle to find the engineering team to support that … [and] you’re going to have to pay top dollar.”<