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LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto PLC (RTP) expects historically high levels of copper supply disruptions to keep the market tight in the coming years, Chief Executive for copper Bret Clayton said Thursday.

Top Trends for 2009: On our GloboTrends wiki homepage, we will keep an updated list of global macro trends that we think are the most important to keep an eye on. Some of this list are statistically unlikely to occur, but if they did, it could cause global disruption. These unlikely events were dubbed Black Swan's in a book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb , or might be called the "fat tail" probability in statistics. Others trends we are watching in the GloboTrends wiki are currently ongoing right now (such as our coverage of the credit crisis, deleveraging, margin calls, etc), and we will talk about how they happened, and predict their likely outcome. The format of a wiki makes the document dynamic, so any of our community is welcome to help shape our views of these important developments. Please log in to our wiki, and feel free to comment... In no particular order, here are the global macro trends that we think will be most significant in the coming year (2009): 1. credit crisis of 2007/08 will continue on into 2009...this one is clear...but, how long will it last? how will it fundamentally change international finance? Add your comments to our wiki... 2. fiscal stimulus and crisis recovery 2009 3. deleveraging of Financial markets will continue. In my opinion, this is the most destructive of all the trends. 4. Risk of deflation in the US as Fed Funds target rate approaches zero (other analysts see the opposite risk of potential hyper inflation). Add your comments.. 5. more... add to this list.. Predictions-for-2009

The technology is capable of carrying 10 times as much power as copper wires of the same size, while also being able to automatically adapt to power surges and disruptions from lightning strikes, heat waves, and traffic accidents, even sabotage. A single superconductor cable can replace 12 copper cable bundles, freeing up more space underground for other utility needs like water, natural gas, or phone service.

Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) announced that it will build automotive wiring harness plants in Cambodia and the Philippines to reduce the risks of production concentration in China. SEI said that a labour shortage and wage hikes are occurring in China. It was also reported that Brazil is important to SEI because it is "friendly to Japan and rich in natural resources." The company aims to increase the proportion of overseas sales to 50% in FY2011, up from 40% in FY2009. With a view to expanding overseas operations Sumitomo will promote competent employees to executive posts regardless of nationality.

It was reported that the copper industry faces ongoing disruptions due to the devastating earthquake in Japan. Mitsui Mining & Smelting said that there are still plant suspensions at several sites in Saitama, Fukushima and Aomori Prefectures. Electrolytic copper foil production in Ageo, Saitama, has been suspended since 11th March. In addition, Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) said that Daikoku Electric Wire's sites in Tochigi and Iwate Prefectures continue to be impacted. Daikoku Electric is a subsidiary of SEI and engages in the production of magnet wire.

"At the start of the decade, Network Rail was hit by a wave of cable thefts which approached 1,000 cases a year as the price of scrap copper and other industrial metals soared. New data show that thefts in England and Wales fell below 41,000 in the year 2013-14 - down from 60,000 in the previous 12 months. "In recent years, we have witnessed a huge reduction in the number of incidents of cable theft on the railway," said a Network Rail official. "Disruption caused by the crime has fallen tenfold since its peak in 2010-11, when passengers suffered more than 6,000 hours of delay." Raids on church roofs, to strip copper and lead sheeting - another traditional target for thieves seeking to supply unscrupulous metal dealers - have also subsided with the price of scrap. Other areas affected include telecommunications and power networks, road signs, memorials, libraries, schools and children's playgrounds."

"We have to think again about transportation. We cannot just continue down a dead end (cul de sac) just because it's convenient and avoids disruption"

According to this (marketing) conference, we will all be flying around in personal drones by 2025. Let's wait and see :-). One thing is sure: lots of change in the transport sector.

AI is certainly a disruptive technology, but opinions differ how far it can go. Certainly in rule-based environments (chess, Go), AI seems unbeatable. Some however go as far as to claim that computers will be able to do anything that humans can do, replacing doctors and artists, to name a few.

Storyline of the disruption that might happen over the coming decade if TaaS (Transport as a Service) becomes a reality. Implications for the oil & gas industry (stranded assets), cities (lots of free space), construction (a boom), grids (no peakers, no market for ancillary services), and of course for the automotive sector.

US-based asset manager Blackrock Inc has gained approval from the SEC for its proposed physically-backed copper ETF. A decision on the controversial ETF, which copper consumers argue will disrupt supply in the copper market and bid up prices, was originally due in December. Although the planned ETF has received approval from the SEC, it is likely that it will face legal challenges similar to those faced by JP Morgan. In an effort to overturn a decision by the US SEC to approve JP Morgan's plan for a physically-backed copper ETF, US-based wire and cable makers Southwire and Encore Wire have taken their case to the Federal Appeals Court.

"Centuries ago, Nikola Tesla envisioned and pioneered the concept of wirelessly transmitting power over long distances through the Earth's ionosphere. In the recent past, wireless energy transfer has occurred by way of an electromagnetic (EM) field set to a certain frequency level. While transmission efficiency over longer distances is attained to an extent by this method, it becomes increasingly difficult when complicated pointing and tracking mechanisms are mandatory to maintain the right wavelength between the transmitter and the receiver. Another drawback to this approach is that any object that falls between the transmitter and the receiver impedes the beam, thus interrupting power transmission to a potentially harmful degree if the power level goes beyond a certain threshold point. Even though microwave frequencies could prove effective to transmit power over long distances through a radiated EM field, the aforementioned caveats still apply. The other possible way to wirelessly transmit power is by non-radiative fields. For instance, a transformer operates by magnetic induction drawing similarities to wireless power transfer. Energy transfer in a transformer happens from the primary coil to a secondary coil in the absence of a direct electrical connection. The same approach can be seen in inductive chargers found in electric toothbrushes, for example. However, for this functionality to operate smoothly, primary and secondary coils must be positioned in close proximity to one another."