India, July 26 -- A severe winter storm swept across central Chile last week, killing at least ten people and damaging more than a thousand homes. The deadly weather forced some of the world's most productive copper mines to curtail operations, dealing a fresh blow to a country that already supplies nearly a quarter of the world's mined copper. The timing could hardly be worse as the markets were already warning of a structural supply gap large enough to threaten the growth of artificial intelligence infrastructure, electric vehicles and the global energy transition.

Chile declared a preventive state of emergency across 10 of its 16 administrative regions as heavy rainfall killed at least ten people and damaged over 1,000 homes, accordin...