The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that copper prices soared to records above $13,000 (U.S.) a tonne on Monday, driven by fears of shortages and expectations turmoil in Venezuela could accelerate the broader race to secure critical minerals. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says expectations of strong demand growth from data centres needed for artificial intelligence and electric vehicles helped fuel a 40-per-cent increase last year in prices of the metal used to make power cables. However, "copper prices need to rise further to persuade miners to generate significant new production," SP Angel analyst John Meyer said. "Many existing mines have been run at or well beyond their initial design capacity for many years, raising the risk of catastrophic failure as seen with the mud rush failure at Grasberg in Indonesia." The U.S. capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has also highlighted risks to the security of supply of critical minerals generally. Mine disruptions, including an accident at Freeport-McMoRan's giant Grasberg mine in Indonesia in September and a strike at Capstone Copper's Mantoverde copper and gold mine in northern Chile, have reinforced the theme of shortages.