Copper occurs naturally with elements such as lead, nickel, silver and zinc.
It is widely used in industry both as a pure metal and as an alloying material. In Australia, the largest known copper deposits are at Mt. Isa. Other major sourses are near Tennant Creek and at Cobar. The large Mt. Morgan deposit is near exhaustion. In world production, the USA, Chile, Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, Russia, Canada, Zambia and Japan lead Australia.