James Thompson

But what the world wants for this AI trade is copper.

Lithium.

And those aren't huge growth industries in Australia.

People are looking to places like South America.

They're looking to America itself, where Rio and BHP have got a big project called Resolution Copper.

So I think-

This boom is not going to be as centred on Australia as the China boom was.

Yes, critical minerals can be very strong for Australia, but it's nothing like the volumes and the profit pools that iron ore and coal generate.

It's different to that.

And so, yeah, we are going to take a little bit more of a backseat here, I think.

That's nothing new.

BHP and Rio have been telling us that for a while, that iron ore demand is plateauing.

Profits are still pretty good.

But the next 30 years doesn't look like the last 30 years did.

Not at all.

I'm still not sure we've quite figured that out yet.

Yeah, it's a different game.

It's a smaller game.

Anthony, I've got to ask then, if we're heading for a period of mega deals as deal captain of the Chook podcast, what's your dream mining deal?

I agree.