WSJ: Freeport CEO on long-term copper outlook

The Wall Street Journal's Tatyana Shumsky and John W. Miller have a brief but interesting Q&A video with Richard Adkerson, president and chief executive of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.

Adkerson addresses the long-term outlook for copper demand and the difficulties of operating mines in politically volatile regions. He sees demand only getting stronger for reasons that are essentially demographic and cultural:

"With satellite TV and the Internet, in the poorest countries in the world, people can see how people live in developed societies. And while there are political issues, and religious issues, and social issues, underlying that is a real aspiration for a better lifestyle."

Combined with China's continuing appetite for infrastructure that depends on copper and the increasing cost of processing the ore into usable metal, these long-term trends look very strong for copper prices.

Freeport CEO on Mining an Essential Metal (subscription required)