## Breadcrumb

-  National Minerals Information Center 

#           Copper Statistics and Information      

      By National Minerals Information Center

-  Home 
-  Commodities 
-  Countries 
-  Materials Flow 
-  US States 
-  NMIC Seminars 
-  Data 
-  Multimedia 
-  Publications 
-  News 
-  Connect 
-  About 

Statistics and information on the worldwide supply of, demand for, and flow of the mineral commodity *copper*

View Media Details

Copper is usually found in nature in association with sulfur. Pure copper metal is generally produced from a multistage process, beginning with the mining and concentrating of low-grade ores containing copper sulfide minerals, and followed by smelting and electrolytic refining to produce a pure copper cathode.  An increasing share of copper is produced from acid leaching of oxidized ores.  Copper is one of the oldest metals ever used and has been one of the important materials in the development of civilization.  Because of its properties, singularly or in combination, of high ductility, malleability, and thermal and electrical conductivity, and its resistance to corrosion, copper has become a major industrial metal, ranking third after iron and aluminum in terms of quantities consumed.  Electrical uses of copper, including power transmission and generation, building wiring, telecommunication, and electrical and electronic products, account for about three quarters of total copper use.  Building construction is the single largest market, followed by electronics and electronic products, transportation, industrial machinery, and consumer and general products.  Copper byproducts from manufacturing and obsolete copper products are readily recycled and contribute significantly to copper supply.

***Subscribe**** to receive an email notification when a new publication is added to this page. On the Questions tab of the subscriber preferences page, please select "Copper" and any other options in which you may be interested. Please see the ****list services**** page for more information.*

### **Monthly Publications**

Mineral Industry Surveys
                            - Copper  PDF Format:  2024: | **** Jan  |  Feb  |  Mar  |  **Apr**  |  **May**  |  2023: | **** Jan  |  Feb  |  Mar  |  Apr  |  May  |  Jun  |  Jul  |  Aug  |  Sep  |  Oct  |  Nov   |  Dec  |   XLSX Format:  2024: | **** Jan  |  Feb  |  Mar  |  **Apr**  |  **May**  |  2023: |  Jan   |  Feb  |  Mar  |  Apr  |  May  |  Jun  |  Jul  |  Aug  |  Sep  |  Oct  |  Nov  |  Dec  |

 
                            - U.S Production of Selected Mineral Commodities (Quarterly Mineral Industry Surveys)

### **Annual Publications**

Mineral Commodity Summaries
                            - Copper  PDF Format:  |  1996  |  1997  |  1998  |  1999  |  2000  |  2001  |  2002  |  2003  |  2004  |  2005  |  2006  |  2007  |  2008  |  2009  |  2010  |  2011  |  2012  | 2013  |  2014  |  2015  |  2016  |  2017  |  2018  |  2019  |  2020  |  2021  |  2022  |  2023  |  **2024**  |
                            - Appendixes

Minerals Yearbook
                            - Copper  PDF Format:  |  1994  |  1995  |  1996  |  1997  |  1998  |  1999  |  2000  |  2001  |  2002  |  2003  |  2004  |  2005  |  2006  |  2007  |  2008  |  2009  |  2010  |  2011  |  2012  |  2013  |  2014  |  2015  |  2016  |  2017  |  2018  |  2019  |  **2020**  |   XLS Format:  |  2002  |  2003  |  2004  |  2005  |  2006  |  2007  |  2008  |  2009  |  2010  |  2011  |  2012  |  2013  |  2014  |  2015  |  2016  |  2017  |  2018  |  2019  |  **2020**  |
                            - Archive  |  1932-1993  |
                            -  
                            - Recycling-Metals

### **Special Publications**

                            - Copper - A Metal for the Ages   Fact Sheet 2009-3031
                            - Copper Recycling in the United States in 2004  Circular 1196-X
                            - Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, and Steel Commodity Price Influences  Open-File Report 2007–1257
                            - Estimate of Undiscovered Copper Resources of the World, 2013    Fact Sheet 2014–3004
                            - Estimated Water Requirements for the Conventional Flotation of Copper Ores    Open-File Report 2012–1089
                            - Factors that Influence the Price of Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Rare Earth Elements, and Zn  Open-File Report 2008-1356
                            - Flows of Selected Materials Associated with World Copper Smelting  OFR-2004-1395
                            - Global Mineral Resource Assessment  Scientific Investigations Report 2010–5090
                            - Historical Global Statistics  (Data Series 896)
                            - Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities in the United States  Data Series 140
                            - International Mineral Exploration Activities From 1995 Through 2004  Data Series 139
                            - Metal Prices in the United States through 2010  Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5188
                            - Natural Hazards and Mineral Commodity Supply: Quantifying Risk of Earthquake Disruption to South American Copper Supply  Resources Policy, Volume 63, October 2019
                            - Physical Aspects of Waste Storage from a Hypothetical Open Pit Porphyry Copper Operation  OF-03-143
                            - Resource Nationalism in Indonesia—Effects of the 2014 Mineral Export Ban
                            - Review of selected global mineral industries in 2011 and an outlook to 2017  Open-File Report 2013-1091
                            - Spatial Database for a Global Assessment of Undiscovered Copper Resources: Chapter Z in Global Mineral Resource Assessment   Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5090-Z
                            - Statistical Compendium                                - Copper 
                            - United States Copper Metal and Scrap Use and Trade Patterns, 1995-2014  Open-File Report 2016-5075
                            - U.S. Mineral Dependence—Statistical Compilation of U.S. and World Mineral Production, Consumption, and Trade, 1990–2010  Open-File Report 2013-1184
                            - World Copper Smelters  (map and table)

### **Links**

                            - Copper Development Association
                            - International Copper Study Group

### Contacts

#### Daniel M Flanagan

##### Mineral Commodity Specialist

National Minerals Information Center

dflanagan@usgs.gov

703-648-7726