Odd Lots · Saturday, September 12, 2026
The mining industry is grappling with significant lead times for essential equipment and materials, making it difficult to ramp up production to meet surging demand. Robert Friedland cites an example of an eight to ten-year wait for specialized components and a six to eight-year wait for gas turbines, illustrating the severe bottlenecks that hinder the expansion of mining and energy infrastructure.
“Today it'd be an eight or 10 year wait, if ever. And the hyperscalers are trying to get a gas turbine today, because we have a lot of natural gas in the United States. You're generating global warming gas for your AI, but it's about a six or seven or eight year wait.”
“And the final line in the song, it ends with, the pump won't work because the vandals took the handle.”
“And it's so bad that it's beyond your wildest imagination.”