Copper resource reserves distribution and production
Distribution of copper resources
The content of copper in the earth's crust is about 0.01%. In some copper deposits, the content of copper can reach 3% to 5%. Copper in nature mostly exists in the form of compounds, namely copper minerals. In 2014, the United States Geological Survey evaluated the global copper deposits and found that the copper content in the proven copper resources was about 2.1 billion tons, and the resources to be explored were expected to contain 3.5 billion tons of copper.
According to the data of the United States Resources Survey in 2015, the global copper reserves are about 700 million tons. Including: Chile 209 million tons, Australia 93 million tons, Peru 68 million tons, the United States 35 million tons, Mexico 38 million tons, China 30 million tons, Russia 30 million tons, Indonesia 25 million tons, Poland 26 million tons, Zambia 20 million tons, Congo (Kinshasa) 20 million tons, Canada 11 million tons, Kazakhstan 6 million tons, and other countries 90 million tons.
Global copper resource reserves
The world's copper resources are distributed by region and country as follows:
Regional distribution: Mainly distributed in North America, Latin America and Central Africa.
National distribution: The world's copper resources are mainly concentrated in Chile, the United States, Zambia, Russia and Peru. Chile is the country with the richest copper resources in the world, and its copper metal reserves account for about 29.86% of the world's total reserves. At the same time, Chile is the world's largest copper producer and exporter.
China's copper resource distribution
According to the "2014 China Land and Resources Bulletin" issued by the Ministry of Land and Resources, as of 2014, my country's copper mines have proven resource reserves of 95.538 million tons of metal.
China's copper production areas are concentrated in: East China, where copper production accounts for 51.84% of the country's total production, of which Anhui and Jiangxi provinces account for about 30%, and Yunnan and Inner Mongolia are also major copper production areas in my country.
Copper production
According to the data of the US National Resources Bureau in 2015, the global copper production in 2013 and 2014 is as follows:
According to Peru's "Business Daily", the international consulting firm CRU Consulting released a report saying that Peru was still the world's third largest copper producer in 2013, with Chile and China in the top two. The report said that in 2013, Chile's copper production was 5.788 million tons, China's was 1.596 million tons, and Peru's was 1.353 million tons. The United States ranked fourth with a production of 1.273 million tons, followed by Australia, Congo, Zambia, Russia, Canada and Indonesia.
Major copper producing countries: Chile, Australia, Peru, the United States, Mexico, China, Russia, Indonesia, Congo, Zambia, etc.
Major copper consuming countries: the United States, Japan, Germany, Russia, China, France, Italy, Belgium, South Korea, the United Kingdom.
Major copper exporting countries: Chile, Canada, Peru, Mexico.
Major copper importing countries: the United States, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, China.
The world's top ten copper mines and their production in 2014 (10,000 tons)
Global copper concentrate production from 2003 to 2013
Since 2012, global copper mines have entered a production expansion cycle, and many investment projects have entered the production stage. The World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) report shows that global copper production in 2014 was 18.43 million tons, an increase of 0.8% over 2013. With Indonesia resuming the export of copper concentrate in the second half of 2014 and the gradual release of production capacity of some mines including Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, its production has increased significantly. Currently, global copper mine production capacity is still in a growth cycle.
The report released by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) shows that global refined copper production increased to 23.01 million tons in 2014, an increase of 7.6% over 2013; among them, China's production increased the most, increasing by 1.169 million tons, India's production increased by 145,000 tons, and Zambia's production increased by 110,000 tons. The annual consumption in 2014 was 22.905 million tons, and 21.04 million tons in 2013. In 2014, the global copper market had an oversupply of 105,000 tons, and in 2013, it had an oversupply of 283,000 tons. Copper stocks fell by 210,000 tons in 2014.
As can be seen from the above figure, global refined copper production has continued to grow slightly in the past five years, with the largest increase in 2014. More production capacity will be gradually released in 2015.
China's copper concentrate production increased by 7.6% year-on-year in 2014
The latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that China produced a total of 1,935,466 tons of copper concentrate in 2014, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%. In 2014, China's crude and refined production capacity continued to expand, and its demand for copper ore remained strong.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China produced a total of about 7.96 million tons of electrolytic copper in 2014, up 13.8% year-on-year. Domestic smelters are actively producing electrolytic copper, and the demand for copper concentrate is relatively strong. Therefore, domestic mines are more motivated to produce. In addition, new mines including Huludao Hongda Molybdenum Industry were put into production in 2014, and some mines that were put into operation in 2013 gradually released their production capacity in 2014, and the output increased.
Therefore, China's copper concentrate production continued to grow in 2014. However, the shortage of domestic resources determines that the copper industry is still highly dependent on foreign countries.
Looking at the domestic copper concentrate production in the past few years, it has generally shown an upward trend, but due to factors such as the decline in copper ore grade and the decline in copper prices, the growth rate of production is relatively slow.
China's refined copper production increased by 14% year-on-year in 2014
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China's refined copper production reached about 7.96 million tons in 2014, an increase of 13.7% year-on-year, and the monthly output remained above 500,000 tons. Starting from September, the average monthly copper production jumped to 700,000 tons, and reached the highest point of the year in December, 833,000 tons.
China's copper concentrate imports
China is the world's largest copper consumer, but its copper reserves and basic reserves account for only 5.53% and 6.67% of the world's total, respectively. The demand for copper concentrate can only be met by large-scale imports. From 2003 to 2014, China's copper concentrate imports increased from 2.667 million tons to 11.82 million tons.
