Top 10 Largest Copper Producing Countries in the World
Copper is a chemical element that is soft, malleable, and ductile. Copper can exist as a primary mineral in basaltic lavas and can also be subtracted from copper compounds such as carbonates, chlorides, and sulfides. Most copper is found in ores in igneous rock and sedimentary rock. Mining projects extract copper from the ground via open-pit mines. Copper was one of the first metals ever extracted and operated by humans, and it has made vital contributions to maintaining and boosting society since the beginning of civilization. Copper was first utilized as a tool during Stone Age and then used as Coins. From then, humans started casting copper to develop it in moulds. The metal has been unearthed for thousands of years. Today, copper still plays an important role in the industry as the world's most common and widely used industrial metal in the world, behind iron and aluminium.
Global copper production has been increasing with populations and economies. Consumption of copper grew from 19.1 million metric tons worldwide in 2010 to 21.8 million metric tons in 2015. Especially China, which consumed 54% of the world’s refined copper in 2020. Due to its high thermal and electrical conductivity, copper is used widely in electrical and electronic products, building construction, industrial machinery and equipment, transportation equipment, electrical wires, telecommunication cables and consumer and general products. According to The International Energy Agency (IEA), the copper demand could double over the next 20 years as the world is moving towards clean energy which potentially accounts for 45% of overall demand. The demand for the metal is predicted to grow rapidly to build the batteries, motors, power cables and many other applications that will characterise modern energy infrastructure.
Global copper production has been increasing with populations and economies. Consumption of copper grew from 19.1 million metric tons worldwide in 2010 to 21.8 million metric tons in 2015. Especially China, which consumed 54% of the world’s refined copper in 2020. Due to its high thermal and electrical conductivity, copper is used widely in electrical and electronic products, building construction, industrial machinery and equipment, transportation equipment, electrical wires, telecommunication cables and consumer and general products. According to The International Energy Agency (IEA), the copper demand could double over the next 20 years as the world is moving towards clean energy which potentially accounts for 45% of overall demand. The demand for the metal is predicted to grow rapidly to build the batteries, motors, power cables and many other applications that will characterise modern energy infrastructure.
The US Geological Survey data, reveals that the global copper reserves presently amount to around 870 million tonnes (Mt), almost a quarter of which are located in Chile and recognized and undiscovered copper resources are estimated to be around 2,100 Mt and 3,500 Mt, respectively. There are currently around 250 copper mines in operation in nearly 40 countries. Latin America accounted for 41% of global copper mine production. Asia was the second-largest producer at 17%, followed by North America and Europe at 14% and 13% respectively; Africa was at 10%, and Oceania followed with 5%. Two South American countries dominate the global copper mining industry. In 2020, Chile produced 5.7 million metric tons of copper. The ten leading countries in copper production in the world were Chile, Peru, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United States, Australia, Russia, Zambia, Mexico, and Kazakhstan. The world's 20 largest copper mines generate nearly 9 million metric tons of precious metal a year, about 40% of the world's total copper mine capacity. The largest copper mines in the world are located in Chile. Three of the world's ten largest copper mines based on capacity are located in Chile. Escondida mine, located in the Atacama Desert in Chile's Antofagasta Region.
10. Kazakhstan :-
Copper Production in Kazakhstan increased to 37103 Tonnes in November from 33862 Tonnes in October of 2021. Kazakhmys plc, which was the firm that operated most copper mining and metal production in the country, was engaged in several projects. The mines commonly comprise sulphide ores and by-products that vary in quantities and proportions between mines. The main by-products are zinc, silver, gold and molybdenum. Each step in the copper process concentrates on eliminating increasing amounts of unwanted materials, turning ore into concentrate and then metals.
From the perspective of the Middle American peoples, Copper was the most important metal and played a prominent role in the prehispanic metallurgy of Ancient Mexico. Today, copper is one of the cornerstones of the Mexican economy. In 2019, Mexico had recorded the highest copper output of the decade, at over 768 thousand tons. Copper output in Mexico is stood at approximately 732.9 thousand metric tons in 2020, an annual decrease of around five per cent. Sonora is by far the country's largest copper producing state.
Zambia is Africa's second-largest copper producer. Copper was found in Zambia in the late 19th century, and in the 1950s the Zambian copper belt dominated global production of the metal. Zambia produced 882,061 tonnes of copper in 2020, up 13.6% from 776,430 tonnes produced in 2019. Total copper production increased 9.7% year on year to 882,061 mt, of which 868,670 mt was produced from large scale mining companies and 13,391 mt from small scale mines. Zambia’s copper production will see a post-Covid-19 recovery of 4.0% y-o-y in 2021. Zambia aspires to produce more than 900,000 tonnes of copper in 2021 and has a long-term goal of surpassing 1 million tonnes in annual production.
Russia is enriched with rich mineral deposits and produces significant amounts of copper. Russia contains 139 copper deposits, about 10 per cent of the world’s copper reserves. Russia's copper mine production was totalled 850 thousand metric tons in 2020. The volume of copper produced fluctuated over the observed period, measuring at its highest at 883 thousand metric tons in 2012. The country ranked as the seventh-largest producer of copper worldwide.
Russia’s copper deposits vary in size and are comprised of a variety of mineral types. More than 51% of Russia's copper metal production was produced by Norilsk Nickel from ore mined by the company. The rest came from a much smaller amount of ore mined in the Ural Mountains and a large amount of secondary material.
In 2020, Australia produced 884.9 thousand metric tons of copper from 36 operational assets circulated across the country. Australia is one of the world's top copper producers with significant resources located in all states and the Northern Territory. However, Australia's main resources of copper are largely at the Olympic Dam copper-uranium-gold deposit in South Australia and the Mount Isa copper-lead-zinc deposit in Queensland and these states contain the largest percentages of both EDR and total resources of copper.
Most of the copper ore produced in Australia comes from underground mines. At some Australian mines, the copper is extracted from the ore to produce a copper-rich solution that is later treated to recover the copper metal. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s copper exports rose from $10.2 billion in 2019 to $10.4 billion in 2020.
Copper mining in the US dates back to the late 1800s, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that advances in flotation processes and open-pit mining resulted in large-scale copper mining. Midway through the 20th century, the country was leading the world in copper production. In 2020, the United States produced some 1.2 million metric tons of copper from mines. Copper was produced from 23 mines in the US. The top copper-producing states in 2014 were Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, and Montana. Minor production was also attained from Idaho and Missouri. As of 2014, the US had 45 million tonnes of known remaining reserves of copper, the fifth-largest known copper reserves in the world, after Chile, Australia, Peru, and Mexico.
In the past few years, the country has watched a slight increase in its copper production due to higher ore grades and higher mining and milling rates at several of the nation’s copper mines. At the same time, global copper production was decreasing. In 2019, the US produced 1.3 million metric tons of red metal, an increase of 6 per cent over the previous year.
In 2016, the DRC produced 1,021,634 tons of copper, which was 2.6 per cent more than in 2015. The country has some of the highest quality copper reserves globally, with some of the mines, estimated to contain grades above 3 per cent, broadly higher than the global average of 0.6 - 0.8 per cent.
Copper mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo mainly occur in the Copper Belt of the southern Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Katanga, or Shaba, Copperbelt in the DRC is a belt about 70 kilometres wide and 250 kilometres long between Lubumbashi and Kolwezi formed in rocks of the Katanga Supergroup. There are 72 economic deposits of copper/cobalt and four large mining centres. The DRC and Zambian copper belts are the second largest global reserve of copper, about 1/3 the size of the Chilean reserve.
As a major manufacturing country, the Chinese economy is the biggest global consumer of metal and imports large volumes to enhance its domestic production. China is the largest copper-consuming country in the world. China produced some 890,000 metric tons of copper from mines in 2006. Since then, this number almost doubled to approximately 1.7 million metric tons in 2020 and peaking at 1.9 million metric tons in 2016. Jiangxi Copper is one of the country’s major producers, operating the key Dexing copper mine in China’s Jiangxi Province.
Peru is the world's No. 2 copper producer and produced 2.15 million tonnes in 2020, a decrease of nearly 13 per cent in comparison to the previous year. Mining operations in Peru produced 2.2 million tonnes of copper in 2020 – a small decrease on the previous year. The top four mines account for over 40% of Peru's copper production, according to official figures. The country’s Cerro Verde and Antamina mines are among the world’s largest copper operations, while the Quellaveco mine being developed by Anglo American and Mitsubishi is anticipated to start production in 2022, adding another vast resource to Peruvian copper activities.
Peru’s mining industry was badly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, but analysts have predicted a strong rebound, with production expected to rise as high as 3.1 million tonnes by 2024.
Chile is the clear leader among the world’s largest copper producing countries, with 5.7 million tonnes of metal mined in 2020, representing 28.5 per cent of the global copper production that year. Nearly 80 per cent of Chilean production comes from porphyry copper deposits rich in molybdenum, gold, and silver byproducts. Most such deposits lie in northern Chile. The South American country is home to the biggest copper reserves worldwide, estimated at around 200 million tonnes by the US Geological Survey. Some of the largest copper mines are located in Chile, including the Escondida, Collahuasi and El Teniente projects.
Chilean producer Codelco ranks first among the world’s largest copper mining companies, closely followed by BHP, which jointly operates the massive Escondida mine in northern Chile. In the domestic context, copper exports represented nearly 90 per cent of the Chilean mining export value in 2020. Codelco is the leading mining company in the country, in terms of both copper output and revenue.
9. Mexico :-
From the perspective of the Middle American peoples, Copper was the most important metal and played a prominent role in the prehispanic metallurgy of Ancient Mexico. Today, copper is one of the cornerstones of the Mexican economy. In 2019, Mexico had recorded the highest copper output of the decade, at over 768 thousand tons. Copper output in Mexico is stood at approximately 732.9 thousand metric tons in 2020, an annual decrease of around five per cent. Sonora is by far the country's largest copper producing state.
8. Zambia :-
Zambia is Africa's second-largest copper producer. Copper was found in Zambia in the late 19th century, and in the 1950s the Zambian copper belt dominated global production of the metal. Zambia produced 882,061 tonnes of copper in 2020, up 13.6% from 776,430 tonnes produced in 2019. Total copper production increased 9.7% year on year to 882,061 mt, of which 868,670 mt was produced from large scale mining companies and 13,391 mt from small scale mines. Zambia’s copper production will see a post-Covid-19 recovery of 4.0% y-o-y in 2021. Zambia aspires to produce more than 900,000 tonnes of copper in 2021 and has a long-term goal of surpassing 1 million tonnes in annual production.
7. Russia :-
Russia is enriched with rich mineral deposits and produces significant amounts of copper. Russia contains 139 copper deposits, about 10 per cent of the world’s copper reserves. Russia's copper mine production was totalled 850 thousand metric tons in 2020. The volume of copper produced fluctuated over the observed period, measuring at its highest at 883 thousand metric tons in 2012. The country ranked as the seventh-largest producer of copper worldwide.
Russia’s copper deposits vary in size and are comprised of a variety of mineral types. More than 51% of Russia's copper metal production was produced by Norilsk Nickel from ore mined by the company. The rest came from a much smaller amount of ore mined in the Ural Mountains and a large amount of secondary material.
6. Australia :-
In 2020, Australia produced 884.9 thousand metric tons of copper from 36 operational assets circulated across the country. Australia is one of the world's top copper producers with significant resources located in all states and the Northern Territory. However, Australia's main resources of copper are largely at the Olympic Dam copper-uranium-gold deposit in South Australia and the Mount Isa copper-lead-zinc deposit in Queensland and these states contain the largest percentages of both EDR and total resources of copper.
Most of the copper ore produced in Australia comes from underground mines. At some Australian mines, the copper is extracted from the ore to produce a copper-rich solution that is later treated to recover the copper metal. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s copper exports rose from $10.2 billion in 2019 to $10.4 billion in 2020.
5. United States of America :-
Copper mining in the US dates back to the late 1800s, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that advances in flotation processes and open-pit mining resulted in large-scale copper mining. Midway through the 20th century, the country was leading the world in copper production. In 2020, the United States produced some 1.2 million metric tons of copper from mines. Copper was produced from 23 mines in the US. The top copper-producing states in 2014 were Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, and Montana. Minor production was also attained from Idaho and Missouri. As of 2014, the US had 45 million tonnes of known remaining reserves of copper, the fifth-largest known copper reserves in the world, after Chile, Australia, Peru, and Mexico.
In the past few years, the country has watched a slight increase in its copper production due to higher ore grades and higher mining and milling rates at several of the nation’s copper mines. At the same time, global copper production was decreasing. In 2019, the US produced 1.3 million metric tons of red metal, an increase of 6 per cent over the previous year.
4. Democratic Republic of the Congo :-
In 2016, the DRC produced 1,021,634 tons of copper, which was 2.6 per cent more than in 2015. The country has some of the highest quality copper reserves globally, with some of the mines, estimated to contain grades above 3 per cent, broadly higher than the global average of 0.6 - 0.8 per cent.
Copper mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo mainly occur in the Copper Belt of the southern Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Katanga, or Shaba, Copperbelt in the DRC is a belt about 70 kilometres wide and 250 kilometres long between Lubumbashi and Kolwezi formed in rocks of the Katanga Supergroup. There are 72 economic deposits of copper/cobalt and four large mining centres. The DRC and Zambian copper belts are the second largest global reserve of copper, about 1/3 the size of the Chilean reserve.
3. China :-
As a major manufacturing country, the Chinese economy is the biggest global consumer of metal and imports large volumes to enhance its domestic production. China is the largest copper-consuming country in the world. China produced some 890,000 metric tons of copper from mines in 2006. Since then, this number almost doubled to approximately 1.7 million metric tons in 2020 and peaking at 1.9 million metric tons in 2016. Jiangxi Copper is one of the country’s major producers, operating the key Dexing copper mine in China’s Jiangxi Province.
2. Peru :-
Peru is the world's No. 2 copper producer and produced 2.15 million tonnes in 2020, a decrease of nearly 13 per cent in comparison to the previous year. Mining operations in Peru produced 2.2 million tonnes of copper in 2020 – a small decrease on the previous year. The top four mines account for over 40% of Peru's copper production, according to official figures. The country’s Cerro Verde and Antamina mines are among the world’s largest copper operations, while the Quellaveco mine being developed by Anglo American and Mitsubishi is anticipated to start production in 2022, adding another vast resource to Peruvian copper activities.
Peru’s mining industry was badly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, but analysts have predicted a strong rebound, with production expected to rise as high as 3.1 million tonnes by 2024.
1. Chile :-
Chile is the clear leader among the world’s largest copper producing countries, with 5.7 million tonnes of metal mined in 2020, representing 28.5 per cent of the global copper production that year. Nearly 80 per cent of Chilean production comes from porphyry copper deposits rich in molybdenum, gold, and silver byproducts. Most such deposits lie in northern Chile. The South American country is home to the biggest copper reserves worldwide, estimated at around 200 million tonnes by the US Geological Survey. Some of the largest copper mines are located in Chile, including the Escondida, Collahuasi and El Teniente projects.
Chilean producer Codelco ranks first among the world’s largest copper mining companies, closely followed by BHP, which jointly operates the massive Escondida mine in northern Chile. In the domestic context, copper exports represented nearly 90 per cent of the Chilean mining export value in 2020. Codelco is the leading mining company in the country, in terms of both copper output and revenue.
0 Comments