Overview
This course develops applied data-analytic skills for the global copper market and its role in construction, manufacturing, electrification, renewable energy, electricity grids, electric vehicles, and the energy transition. Students examine the structure and economics of mining, smelting, refining, recycling, warehousing, and physical delivery, linking market activity to industrial and policy conditions.
Students work with spot and futures prices, forward curves, spreads, inventories, treatment and refining charges, mine supply, production disruptions, concentrate flows, smelter utilization, trade statistics, exchange rates, freight, industrial production, housing, vehicle sales, and energy prices. Practical work emphasizes data sourcing, definition and revision assessment, frequency alignment, missing-data treatment, outlier detection, dashboard construction, return and indicator calculation, and geographic and temporal visualization.
The course introduces correlation, regression, and basic forecasting for copper-market analysis. Students construct reproducible workflows, distinguish signal from noise, develop market scenarios, and communicate actionable findings to traders, analysts, producers, manufacturers, and policymakers.
Learning Outcomes
- Evaluate the quality, definitions, provenance, revisions, and limitations of copper-market and macroeconomic datasets.
- Explain the relationships among copper demand, mine supply, concentrate flows, smelter utilization, refining, recycling, inventories, and physical delivery.
- Construct reproducible workflows that source, clean, align, document, and validate data across differing frequencies and geographic classifications.
- Calculate and interpret returns, spreads, treatment and refining charge indicators, inventory measures, and other market analytics.
- Visualize copper-market data to identify geographic, temporal, cyclical, and structural patterns using appropriate graphical and dashboard techniques.
- Test relationships among copper prices, industrial activity, housing, vehicle sales, exchange rates, freight, and energy prices using correlation and regression methods.
- Apply basic forecasting techniques to copper-market variables and assess forecast performance, uncertainty, and sensitivity to model assumptions.
- Distinguish durable market signals from noise, measurement error, revisions, and short-term volatility.
- Develop coherent copper-market scenarios incorporating supply disruptions, demand changes, inventory movements, and energy-transition conditions.
- Communicate reproducible, evidence-based, and actionable analytical conclusions to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Timetable
| Type | Length | Frequency | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Lab | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Tutorial | 1 hour | Fortnightly | All semester |
Assessment Schedule
| Type | Description | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Quiz | Data concepts and market structure quizzes (5 × 2%). | 10.00% |
| Assignment | Data sourcing, quality assessment, and exploratory analysis. | 20.00% |
| Deliverable | Reproducible dashboard and analytical data workflow. | 20.00% |
| Test | Mid-semester test on copper-market analytics and methods. | 20.00% |
| Capstone | Integrated copper-market analysis, scenario assessment, and briefing. | 30.00% |
Prerequisites
Teaching Staff & Programs
This course is delivered jointly by faculty from the participating programs listed below. In line with the Douchewater Way, the University of Sexology tailors core instruction directly to each cohort's specific discipline — adapting curriculum to program needs rather than forcing students into a one-size-fits-all model. Learn more about our approach at The Douchewater Way.
