(Reuters) - Demand for gold and copper will remain robust even though metal prices have soared, with both China and a slowly improving U.S. economy clamoring for fresh supplies, industry executives told the Reuters Global Mining and Steel Summit on Wednesday.

U.S. gold prices have hovered near $1,440 per ounce, driven by nervous investors seeking to own hard assets, while copper prices peaked at a record near $4.65 a pound last month.

In the United States, "export business (and) consumer spending are improving, automobiles (are) strong, so this recovery ... is translating into improved demand for copper," Richard Adkerson, chief executive of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX.N) said.

While the U.S. economy is far from thundering along, it is gathering steam, said Adkerson, the head of the world's largest publicly traded copper miner.

"(It's) gradual, but a definite recovery in the U.S., although the residential and commercial construction business is still very weak," he said.

Even with two Japanese smelters shut following the devastating earthquake there, Freeport sees no difficulty in selling the 22 percent of its copper concentrates that it sells there.

Still, the Japanese market is likely to show strength as the country moves to rebuild from the damage that could top $300 billion.

Goldcorp Inc (G.TO) CEO Chuck Jeanness told the Summit in Toronto that gold prices could eventually challenge the inflation-adjusted highs near $2,300 hit about three decades ago.

Even as investors stockpile gold because of fears of economic instability and currency volatility, demand from consumers in China has been nothing short of astonishing, he said.

"There's no way that I could have surmised two or three years ago that physical gold demand in China would surpass that of India, which is expected to happen this year," Jeannes said.

India is the world's leading gold consumer, although demand is likely to decline 16 percent there this year, Morgan Stanley said in a research note on Tuesday.

GOVERNMENT GRAB

The jump in metals prices has not escaped the attention of governments, which are eager to restore their battered coffers.

But increasing royalties and taxes will only push mining investments to cheaper locales, Mark Cutifani, chief executive of AngloGold Ashanti (ANGJ.J) told the summit in Johannesburg.

Cutifani called Australia's planned new mining tax as a "terrible error" that will have long-term repercussions for investment, even after the government reached a complex deal with the big mining companies to water it down.

"It will hurt Australia. A lot of development (is) occurring in Canada, because it's a much more competitive jurisdiction than Australia. Other parts of Africa are being looked at again as a consequence of the Australian move," he said.

AngloGold's Cutifani and other executives warned South Africa not to follow in Australia's footsteps after a minister hinted last week the country might overhaul its minerals tax regime and take Australia as a template.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Flak and Ed Stoddard in Johannesburg, Eric Onstad in London, Julie Gordan and Euan Rocha in Toronto, Steve James, Matt Daily, Carole Vaporean, Michael Erman, Chris Kelly and Frank Tang in New York, Writing by Matt Daily;editing by Sofina Mirza-Reid)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/23/us-mining-summit-idUSTRE72M8SP20110323