The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that a forecast surplus of copper going into 2024 has suddenly all but disappeared. A Bloomberg dispatch to The Globe says that the next couple of years were supposed to be a time of plenty for copper, thanks to a series of big new projects starting up around the world. The expectation across most of the industry was for a comfortable surplus before the market tightens again later this decade, when surging demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure is expected to collide with a lack of new mines. Instead, the mining industry has highlighted how vulnerable supply can be, whether due to political and social opposition, the difficulty of developing new operations or simply the day-to-day challenge of pulling rocks up from deep beneath the surface of the Earth. In the past two weeks, one of the world's biggest copper mines was ordered to close in the face of fierce public protests, while a slew of operational setbacks has forced one of the leading miners to slash its production forecasts. Last week, Panama's government formally ordered Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals to end all operations at its $10-billion (U.S.) copper mine in the country.