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Critical resource map

Exposure
← Overview

industrial

Copper

Unit is thousand metric tons of copper content. Production is mine output, not refined metal.

Country panel

Top import partners
No dataPartner shares are published for the United States in USGS MCS 2026; other viewers are No data in v1.

Global totals

Reserve life
known reserves cover ~43 years at current production

Concentration

  • Chile 23.0%
  • DR Congo 13.9%
  • Other countries 13.0%

Production share

  1. Chile23.0%
  2. DR Congo13.9%
  3. Other countries13.0%
  4. Peru11.7%
  5. China7.8%
  6. Russia5.6%
  7. United States4.3%
  8. Zambia4.1%
  9. Australia3.2%
  10. Indonesia3.1%
  11. Kazakhstan3.1%
  12. Mexico3.0%
  13. Canada2.2%
  14. Poland1.8%
  15. India0.1%

Colour scale is colour-blind-safe sand to rust. Grey means no listed figure. “Other countries” is not drawn. On small screens the map is a ranked list.

Top producers

Share of listed production versus share of listed reserves.

Table alternative to the bar chart
CountryProductionReserves
Chile23%18.4%
DR Congo13.9%8.2%
Other countries13%21.4%
Peru11.7%8.7%
China7.8%4.2%
Russia5.6%8.2%
United States4.3%4.8%
Zambia4.1%2.1%
Australia3.2%10.2%
Indonesia3.1%2.1%

Uses

  • Building construction. 2025
  • Electrical and electronic products, including power cable. 2025
  • Transportation and industrial machinery. 2025

Recycling

Old scrap provided an estimated 160,000 tons of copper in the United States in 2025.

Substitution

Aluminium in some electrical and heat-exchange uses; optical fibre in telecoms.

Sources