PERTH, May 22 (Reuters) - BHP's bid for Anglo

American underlines the growing appetite for energy

transition metals like copper from miners who must become more

aggressive to secure new projects or risk missing out, investors

and mining CEOs said on Wednesday.

The bid by the world's biggest listed miner for Anglo is

expected to whet appetite for more deals in the sector whether

it goes ahead or not, they said.

"There is clearly a preference for buying over building

because costs have ramped up so much in the past few years,"

said Ben Cleary of Tribeca Investment Partners, which is an

investor in Anglo American.

"BHP ... have been telling you for a long time that they

love copper. Rio the same. In terms of their portfolio skew they

are still very heavily weighted to iron ore ... you are going to

see more deals," he said, speaking at the AFR Mining Summit in

Perth.

Anglo has twice rejected overtures by BHP, whose deadline to

make a third offer expires later on Wednesday. Instead, Anglo

has pledged to break up its company to lower costs.

Whether Anglo's management decide to engage with BHP on

Tuesday, investors expect more interest in the sector as copper

prices, which hit a record above $11,000 a tonne on Monday,

climb and encourage new projects.

Rising prices will only make competition for copper assets

more intense, said Brett Beatty, partner and managing director

Australia, of private equity company Resource Capital Funds.

Beatty said he had faced internal questions over whether

RCF had overpaid for the 11.9% stake in Botswana's Khoemecau

copper mine that it bought for $70 million in 2019.

That stake was sold when China's MMG bought the

mine for $1.88 billion six months ago, making it worth some $224

million, roughly a two-fold return.

"It's a market where you have to take risk and you'll be

rewarded for it, but if you sit on the sidelines you're going to

miss out," he said.

Given that lithium prices have begun to recover from rock

bottom lows, for companies with the funding, now is a good time

to buy, said Joshua Thurlow, head of lithium at Australian

diversified miner Mineral Resources.

"M&A's on people's minds. It's at that point in the cycle. If

you can be counter cyclical ... you could argue this is a good

time to do it," he told Reuters.

"But also sometimes it takes a lot of gusto and a major

balance sheet strengthening process to be able to do it," he

added.

MinRes embarked on an acquisition spree of significant stakes

in Australian lithium developers last year.

"As we continue to look around the goldfield and more

prospective areas we will continue to make deals if and when

possible," he added.

Beyond copper and lithium, there is even interest in unloved

nickel whose prices have been hit by a surge in Indonesian

supply.

Wyloo Metals will in coming weeks put its Western Australian

nickel operations on care and maintenance.

"For us we are trying to see beyond the next 6-12 months to

the next 10-15 years," CEO Luca Giacovazzi said.

"We are always acquisitive and we are always looking for a

longer term opportunity ... As a family office that is really

chasing assets that produce yield, it's an interesting time for

us to look at opportunities in the market."