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ICJ 8930 
 
 Bureau of Mines Information Circular/1983 
 
 Copper Availability— Market Economy Countries 
 
 A Minerals Availability Program Appraisal 
 
 By R. D. Rosenkranz, E. H. Boyle, Jr., and K. E. Porter 
 
 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
 
Information Circular 8930 
 
 Copper Availability— Market Economy Countries 
 
 A Minerals Availability Program Appraisal 
 
 By R. D. Rosenkranz, E. H. Boyle, Jr., and K. E. Porter 
 
 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
 
 William P. Ciark, Secretary 
 
 BUREAU OF MINES 
 Robert C. Horton, Director 
 
As the Nation's principal conservation agency, the Department of the 
 Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands 
 and natural resources. This includes fostering the wisest use of our land 
 and water resources, protecting our fish and wildlife, preserving the 
 environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical 
 places, and providing for the enjojTnent of life through outdoor recreation. 
 The Department assesses our energy and mineral resources and works to 
 assure that their development is in the best interests of all our people. The 
 Department also has a major responsibility for American Indian reserva- 
 tion communities and for people who live in island territories under U.S. 
 administration. _t-.i 
 
 This publication has been cataloged as follows: 
 
 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 
 
 Rosenkranz, Rodney D. 
 
 Copper availability— market economy countires. 
 
 (information circular; 8930) 
 
 Bibliography: p. 29 
 
 Supt. of Docs, no.: I 28.27: 
 
 1 . Copper industry and trade. I.Boyle, Edward H. li. Porter, K. E. (Kenneth E.) 
 ill United States. Bureau of Mines. IV. Title. V. Series: Information circular (United States. 
 Bureau of Mines): 8930. 
 
 ■TN^2954J4" [HD9539.C6] 622s [338.4'76733] 82-600393 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In ordef to assess the availability of nonfiiel minerals, the Bureau of Mines Minerals 
 Availability Program identifies, collects, compiles, and evaluates information on producing, 
 developing, and explored mines and deposits and mineral processing plants worldwide. 
 Objectives are to classify domestic and foreign resources, identify by cost evaluation resources 
 that are reserves, and prepare analyses of mineral availabilities. 
 
 This report is one of a continuing series of minerals avsiilability reports that analyze the 
 availability of 34 minerals from domestic and foreign sources. Questions about the program 
 should be addressed to: Chief, Division of Minerals Availability, Bureau of Mines, 2401 E St., 
 NW, Washington, D.C. 20241. 
 
 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 
 Waslilncton. D.C. 20402 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page Page 
 
 Preface ii Mining 19 
 
 Abstract 1 Milling 19 
 
 Introduction 2 Smelting, refining, and miscellaneous 19 
 
 Background 2 Total operating cost 19 
 
 Summary of evaluation procedure 2! Taxes 19 
 
 Other studies 2 Byproduct revenues 19 
 
 Acknowledgments 2 Net and total cost 20 
 
 World copper production 2 Transportation cost 20 
 
 Identification and selection of copper deposits 3 Capital costs 21 
 
 Market economy copper resources 4 Copper availability 22 
 
 North America 5 Total availability from producing, developing, 
 
 Central and South America 6 and explored deposits 22 
 
 Europe , 11 Total availability by region 22 
 
 Middle East and western Asia 11 Annual availability 23 
 
 Eastern Asia and Oceania 12 U.S. availability 24! 
 
 Africa 12 Total production 24 
 
 Deposit evaluation procedure 14 Annual production 25 
 
 Capital and operating cost estimation 15 Factors affecting copper availability 2T 
 
 Assumptions 16 Inflation 27 
 
 Availability curves 16 Byproduct commodity prices 28 
 
 Operating and capital costs 17 Summary and conclusions 28 
 
 Mine and mill operating costs 17 References 29 
 
 Total production costs 18' Appendix 30 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 1. Bureau of Mines-U.S. Geological Survey system for classification of mineral resources 4 
 
 2. Copper availability from producing and nonproducing deposits 5 
 
 3. Deposit evaluation procedure 15 
 
 4. Total copper availability from mines and deposits 22 
 
 5. Breakdown of total copper availability from producing, developing, and explored deposits 22 
 
 6. Total copper availability by major region 23 
 
 7. Potential annual copper production from producing, developing," and explored deposits 24 
 
 8. Potential annual copper production by major region 25 
 
 9. Total copper availability from U.S. mines and deposits 25 
 
 10. Potential annual copper production from producing U.S. mines 26 
 
 11. Potential annual copper production from developing and explored U.S. deposits 26 
 
 12. Total copper availability from producing U.S. mines 26 
 
 13. Potential annual capacity of producing U.S. mines in 1983 27 
 
 14. Impact of capital cost increases on copper availability 27 
 
 15. Impact of 25-pct operating cost increase on copper availability 27 
 
 16. Impact of bj^product price changes on total copper availability 28 
 
 TABLES 
 
 1. World mine production of copper 3 
 
 2. Nimiber and status of copper deposits evaluated 5 
 
 3. Copper resource information 6 
 
 4. Average ore grade and recoverable copper from producing mines 7 
 
 5. Average ore grade and recoverable copper from developing and explored deposits 7 
 
 Descriptive information for individual copper deposits: 
 
 6. North America 8 
 
 7. Central and South America 10 
 
 8. Europe 11 
 
 9. Middle East and western Asia 12 
 
 10. Eastern Asia and Oceania 13 
 
 11. Africa 14 
 
 12. Byproduct commodity prices used in analysis 16 
 
 13. Estimated mine and mill operating costs for producing copper mines 17 
 
 14. Estimated production costs for producing copper mines 18 
 
 15. Estimated copper transportation costs for selected countries 20 
 
 16. Estimated capital costs for developing and explored copper deposits 21 
 
 17. Copper potentially available from producing, developing, and explored deposits at selected copper price 
 
 ranges 22 
 
 18. Copper potentially available by region at selected total production cost ranges 23 
 
 19. Estimated annual copper mine capacity 23 
 
 20. Copper potentially available from U.S. mines and deposits at selected total production cost ranges 25 
 
 A-1. Deposits investigated but not included in this study 30 
 
UNIT OF MEASURE ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS REPORT 
 
 lb 
 
 pound 
 
 ton/d 
 
 (metric) ton per day 
 
 oz/ton 
 
 troy ounce per (metric) ton 
 
 ton/yr 
 
 (metric) ton per year 
 
 pet 
 
 percent 
 
 
 
COPPER AVAILABILITY— MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRIES 
 A Minerals Availability Program Appraisal 
 
 By R. D. Rosenkranz,' E. H. Boyle, Jr.,^ and K. E. Porter^ 
 ABSTRACT 
 
 The Bureau of Mines has investigated the availability of copper from 272 deposits in market 
 economy countries. The deposits studied have demonstrated resources totaling 413 million 
 metric tons of contained copper and account for more than 90 pet of the reserve base for market 
 economy countries. Using data gathered as part of its Minerals Availability Program, the 
 Bureau performed geologic, engineering, and economic evaluations in order to determine the 
 copper production potential of each deposit. 
 
 At the 1981 copper market price of $0.85/lb, the deposits studied could economically produce 
 an estimated 88 million metric tons of copper (allowing for profit computed at a 15-pct rate of 
 return), primarily from mines operating at the time of the study (1981). At this price, producing 
 mines in market economy countries could economically produce only 2.1 million metric tons of 
 refined copper per year. However, actual 1981 production was 6.2 million metric tons, indicating 
 that many mines continued to operate even though they were unable to cover all production 
 costs. For U.S. producing mines, the estimated average cost of production per pound (including 
 profit at a 15-pct rate of return) was $0.15 higher than the average cost in other market economy 
 countries. 
 
 ' Mineral economist. 
 ^ Geologist. 
 ' Mining engineer. 
 All authors are with the Minerals Availability Field Office, Bureau of Mines, Denver, Colo. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 BACKGROUND 
 
 The world copper industry has been in a depressed state 
 since 1974. Because of low copper prices throughout the 
 1970's, many mines curtailed production, and new 
 developments were postponed or canceled. In early 1980, a 
 brief increase in copper and byproduct prices temporarily 
 relieved the industry. However, because of recent de- 
 creases in these prices, combined with the effects of 
 inflation and the high cost of borrowed money, the future 
 of the world copper industry remains uncertain. 
 
 In the United States, since 1981, many copper mines 
 have experienced temporary shutdowns, and several have 
 closed, perhaps permanently. Low copper and bjrproduct 
 prices, together with production costs that were higher 
 than those in foreign countries (an average of $0.15 higher 
 per pound of refined copper), resulted in 1982 U.S. copper 
 production estimated at only 65 pet of capacity. 
 
 SUMMARY OF 
 EVALUATION PROCEDURE 
 
 The Bureau's primary objectives in this study were to 
 evaluate the availability of copper from the world's 
 meirket economy countries and to assess domestic copper 
 resources in relation to those of all other market economy 
 countries. The procedures used to accomplish these 
 objectives were as follows: 
 
 1. The quantity and quality of world copper resources 
 were evaluated in relation to physical, technological, 
 political, and other factors that affect production for each 
 of the deposits studied. 
 
 2. Capital investments and operating costs for appropri- 
 ate mining, concentrating, and processing methods were 
 estimated for each deposit. 
 
 3. An economic analysis was performed for each deposit. 
 (The results of these analyses indicate the unit cost and 
 associated tonnages of copper that could be recovered from 
 each deposit at specific production levels. The analyses 
 concentrated on determining the cost of production and 
 did not consider the effects of demand and market price.) 
 
 4. Price-production relationships were combined and 
 analyzed in the form of total and annual availability 
 curves to show combined market economy and regional 
 copper production potentials at various commodity prices. 
 
 OTHER STUDIES 
 
 Copper availability studies quickly become obsolete 
 because of changes in the many factors that influence the 
 industry. Previous Bureau studies of domestic copper 
 resources were based on 1964 (19),' 1970 (1), and 1978 
 data (22). A 1980 Bureau study presented a perspective on 
 the financial health of the U.S. copper industry (27); and a 
 1981 Bureau report studied the problems, issues, and 
 outlook for the U.S. copper industry (25). 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
 
 Production and cost data for domestic deposits were 
 developed at Bureau of Mines Field Operation Centers in 
 Denver, Colo., Juneau, Alaska, Pittsburgh, Pa., and 
 
 Spokane, Wash. Foreign data were collected through 
 contract with Colder Associates, Inc., of Denver, Colo. 
 
 WORLD COPPER PRODUCTION 
 
 World mine production of copper in 1980 was 7.7 million 
 tons of contained copper;* of this total, 6 million tons was 
 from market economy countries. World mine production 
 for 1981 has been estimated at 7.8 million tons of 
 contained copper, with market economy country mines 
 producing 6.2 million tons. 
 
 World mine production for 1960, 1970, and 1980 is 
 shown by region and country in table 1. Between 1960 and 
 1970, world mine production increased 43 pet from 4.2 
 million tons of contained copper to 6 million tons. During 
 this time, Canada, Chile, the Philippines, the Republic of 
 South Africa, the United States, and Zambia all greatly 
 expanded production. From 1970 to 1980, world mine 
 production increased at a slower rate, rising 27 pet. 
 During this time, production increased by at least 100,000 
 tons of contained copper in Chile, China, Peru, the 
 Philippines, Poland, and the U.S.S.R., while production in 
 
 ■* Italic numbers in parentheses refer to items in the list of references 
 preceding the appendix. 
 
 ' In this report, "ton" refers to the metric ton (2,204.8 lb), except where 
 otherwise indicated. 
 
 the United States dropped nearly 500,000. tons. However, 
 the 1980 decline in U.S. production can be attributed 
 primarily to strikes. Domestic production in 1981 has 
 been estimated at 1.52 million tons of contained copper, 
 which is about equal to 1970 production. 
 
 In 1980, North American mines produced 2.07 million 
 tons of contained copper, accounting for 27 pet of world 
 mine production and 34 pet of all market economy 
 production. Central and South America was the next 
 largest market economy region in terms of copper output, 
 producing 1.44 million tons (24 pet of all market economy 
 production), followed by Africa, which produced 1.35 
 million tons (22 pet). Central economy mines produced an 
 estimated 1.63 million tons of contained copper in 1980, 
 and more than 55 pet of this production came from the 
 U.S.S.R. 
 
 Although U.S. mine production (of contained copper) 
 dropped nearly 20 pet in 1980, to 1.2 million tons, owing to 
 an industrywide labor strike, the United States remained 
 the world's largest producer. However, 1980 Chilean mine 
 production was 1.1 million tons, only 100,000 tons less 
 
Table 1.— World mine production of copper, by region and country' (2, 23, 28, 31) 
 
 (Thousand metric tons) 
 
 Region and country 
 
 1960 1970 "1980 
 
 Region and country 
 
 1960 1970 "1980 
 
 MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRIES 
 
 MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRIES— Continued 
 
 North Amenca: 
 
 Canada^ 
 
 Mexico 
 
 United States^. 
 Total 
 
 Eastern Asia and Oceania: 
 
 Australia 
 
 Indonesia 
 
 Japan' 
 
 Malaysia 
 
 Papua New Guinea . . . 
 
 Phrlippines 
 
 Other* 
 
 Total 
 
 399 
 
 60 
 
 980 
 
 610 
 
 61 
 
 1,560 
 
 371 6 
 
 175 
 
 *1.1B1 
 
 1.439 2J31 
 
 2.072 
 
 Central and South America: 
 
 Brazil 
 
 Chile 
 
 Peru^ 
 
 Other 
 
 Total 
 
 Europe: 
 
 Finland 
 
 Norway* 
 
 Spain 
 
 Sweden 
 
 Yugoslavia' 
 
 Other* 
 
 Total 
 
 1 
 536 
 182 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 711 
 
 220 
 
 18 
 
 ^1,068 
 
 ^67 
 
 4 
 
 111 
 
 44 
 3 
 
 158 
 120 
 
 160 
 
 728 
 
 953 
 
 1.440 
 
 28 
 15 
 8 
 18 
 33 
 14 
 
 31 
 20 
 9 
 26 
 91 
 18 
 
 37 
 26 
 42 
 43 
 134 
 .12 
 
 Africa: 
 
 Botswana' 
 
 Namibia 
 
 Republic of South Africa . 
 
 Zaire 
 
 Zambia 
 
 Zimbabwe 
 
 Other* 
 
 Total 
 
 21 
 46 
 302 
 576 
 14 
 19 
 
 31 
 
 150 
 
 386 
 
 684 
 
 27 
 
 23 
 
 978 
 
 .116 
 
 296 
 
 Total, marl<et economy countries 3,586 5,186 
 
 Middle East and western Asia: 
 
 Cyprus* 
 
 India' 
 
 Iran 
 
 Israel 
 
 Turfsey 
 
 Total 
 
 CENTRAL ECONOMY COUNTRIES 
 
 35 
 9 
 
 6 
 27 
 
 18 
 
 11 
 
 8 
 27 
 
 22 
 4 
 1 
 
 21 
 
 64 
 
 ^ 
 
 Bulgaria 
 
 China' 
 
 Poland^ 
 
 U.S.S.R."*. 
 Other. 
 
 Total. 
 
 11 
 70 
 11 
 499 
 43 
 
 43 
 100 
 
 72 
 571 
 
 50 
 
 3232 
 
 '58 
 
 352 
 
 27 
 
 3147 
 
 304 
 
 2 
 
 247 442 822 
 
 316 
 
 339 
 
 3201 
 
 3459 
 
 3596 
 
 27 
 
 1^7 
 
 6,055 
 
 58 
 200 
 ^346 
 900 
 127 
 
 7.656 
 
 ■ Estimate. - indicates or negligible tonnage in the year shown. " Preliminary. 
 
 ' Data presented represent copper content (recoverable, where indicated) of ore mined wherever possible. If such data are not available the figures presented are 
 the nonduplicative total copper content of ores, concentrates, matte, metal, and/or other copper-bearing products measured at the last stage of processing for which 
 data are available. Table includes data available through June 29, 1981 . 
 
 ^ Recoverable. 
 
 3 Reported figure. 
 
 ' The year 1 980 was a strike year for U.S. mines and therefore is not representative of actual U.S. production. Production for 1961 was estimated to t>e 1 .52 million 
 tons. 
 
 * Includes copper content of cupriferous pyrite. 
 
 ' Copper content of concentrates produced. 
 
 ' Copper content of matte produced. 
 
 than that of the United States. Although the ore grade of 
 Chilean copper has decreased in recent years, the Chilean 
 Government has committed large amounts of capital to 
 expand existing capacities and maintain or possibly 
 increase output during the 1980's. Other large market 
 
 economy producers include Canada, 716,000 tons; Zambia, 
 596,000 tons; Zaire, 459,000 tons; Peru, 367,000 tons; and 
 the Philippines, 304,000 tons. Additional copper produc- 
 tion and consumption data are available in other Bureau 
 publications (2, 24, 28). 
 
 IDENTIFICATION AND SELECTION OF COPPER DEPOSITS 
 
 Any study of copper availability that encompasses most 
 of the world runs the risk of becoming bogged down in 
 time-consuming efforts to collect data on insignificant 
 deposits. Because of money and time constraints, a 
 necessary first step in such a study is to rank deposits 
 according to their significance. Using the criteria and 
 procedures described below, the Bureau selected 272 
 copper deposits' in 40 market economy countries for this 
 study. (Most deposits in the market economy countries not 
 included in the study are insignificant.) The 272 deposits 
 studied account for more than 90 pet of the copper reserve 
 base for all market economy countries. 
 
 Using in-house and published data, the Bureau first 
 compiled a list of neary 300 foreign deposits. Each deposit 
 appeared to have a published resource of at least 100,000 
 
 ' In this report, "deposits" refers either to developing and/or explored 
 copper properties or to all the properties and operations studied (i.e., 
 producing, developing, and explored). "Mines" refers only to operations 
 that were producing (or temporarily shut down) at the time of the study. 
 
 tons of contained copper. The Bureau then issued a 
 contract for the collection of additional deposit data. Of 
 the approximately 300 initial deposits, about 100 were 
 found to be raw prospects with very little exploration data, 
 or they contained resources much smaller than 100,000 
 tons of contained copper. No further investigation was 
 made of these deposits. (Reasons why individual deposits 
 were not evaluated are listed in the appendix to this 
 report.) Complete engineering and economic evaluations 
 were performed on each of the remaining 199 foreign 
 deposits and on 73 domestic deposits. Nearly all of these 
 deposits have resources of at least 100,000 tons of 
 contained copper. Most reserve and resource tonnage and 
 grade calculations were computed from company 
 measurements, samples, or production data and from 
 estimations based on geologic evidence. 
 
 This study did not address the availability of copper 
 from central economy countries. Although Bulgaria, 
 China, Poland, and the U.S.S.R. are major producers, it 
 
Cumulative 
 production 
 
 IDENTIFIED RESOURCES 
 
 Demonstroted 
 
 Measured Indicated 
 
 Inferred 
 
 UNDISCOVERED RESOURCES 
 
 Hypothetical 
 
 Probability range 
 -(or)- 
 
 Speculative 
 
 ECONOMIC 
 
 MARGINALLY 
 ECONOMIC 
 
 SUB- 
 ECONOMIC 
 
 Reserve 
 
 base 
 
 Inferred 
 
 reserve 
 
 base 
 
 -I- 
 
 other 
 Occurrences 
 
 Includes nonconventional and low-grade materials 
 
 Figure 1. — Bureau of Mines-U.S. Geological Survey system for classification of mineral resources. 
 
 was not possible to collect the detailed data necessary to 
 evaluate deposits in these countries. 
 
 Resource estimates for the deposits evaluated were 
 made at the demonstrated resource level according to the 
 mineral resource classification system developed by the 
 U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines (fig. 1) 
 (29). Using this classification system, a portion of the 
 resources is termed the reserve base, which is the in-place 
 demonstrated (measured plus indicated) resource from 
 which reserves are estimated. The reserve base includes 
 resources that are currently economic (reserves), margi- 
 nally economic (marginal reserves), and some that are 
 currently subeconomic (subeconomic resources). 
 
 The world copper reserve base amounts to 505 million 
 tons of contained copper, of which 445 million tons occurs 
 in market economy countries (28). U.S. deposits contain 
 
 an estimated 90 million tons of copper. The 272 deposits 
 analyzed in this study together have demonstrated 
 resources of 413 million tons of contained copper. 
 
 Although low copper and byproduct prices have not 
 encouraged exploration in recent years, known resources 
 fca:,many deposits are large enough to last for many years. 
 In comparison with the demonstrated resource of 413 
 million tons of contained copper evaluated for this study, 
 total land-based copper resources, including hypothetical 
 and speculative deposits, are estimated to contain 1,627 
 million tons of copper. U.S. operating mines are estimated 
 to contain an inferred tonnage of 68 million tons of copper 
 in resources that have not been included in mining plans 
 (6). An additional 690 million tons is estimated to exist in 
 deep-sea-nodule resources (28). These additional re- 
 sources were not evaluated in this study. 
 
 MARKET ECONOMY COPPER RESOURCES 
 
 Demonstrated resources for the 272 deposits analyzed 
 have been estimated at 50 billion tons of in-place material 
 averaging 0.83 pet copper. This material contains an 
 estimated 413 million tons of copper which is 80 pet 
 potentially recoverable with present technology. 
 
 Of the 330 million tons of copper potentially recoverable 
 from the deposits analyzed, 63 pet exists in the 146 mines 
 that were producing (or only temporarily shut down) at 
 the time of the study, and 37 pet is contained in the 126 
 developing and explored deposits. An estimated 76 pet of 
 the recoverable copper occurs in porphyry deposits 
 (including disseminated, stoekwork, and skarn), 16 pet is 
 in stratabound sedimentary deposits, 3 pet is in massive 
 sulfide deposits (including volcanogenic), and 5 pet occurs 
 in other type deposits. 
 
 Figure 2' shows that a small percentage of the deposits 
 
 analyzed accounts for a large percentage of the available 
 copper. Of the resource potentially recoverable from 
 producing mines, nearly 60 pet is attributable to only 10 
 pet of the mines (i.e., the 15 mines with the largest 
 resources), and more than 80 pet is attributable to 25 pet 
 of the mines (40 mines). Of the potential recoverable 
 resource from nonproducing deposits, nearly 45 pet is 
 attributable to 10 pet of the deposits (i.e., the 12 deposits 
 with the largest resources), and about 70 pet is attribut- 
 able to 25 pet of the deposits (31 deposits). 
 
 For this analysis, the market economy countries were 
 disaggregated into six regions: North America, Central 
 and South America, Europe, the Middle East and western 
 
 ' Unless otherwise specified, all data in the illustrations and tables in 
 this report are combined data for the 272 deposits studied. 
 
1 1 1 1 I 
 
 Table 2.— Number and status of copper deposits evaluated, by 
 region and country 
 
 Developing and explored 
 
 20 40 60 BO 100 120 140 
 
 NUMBER OF DEPOSITS 
 
 Figure 2.— Copper availability from producing and nonpro- 
 duclng deposits, based on number of deposits, with deposits 
 ranked by size. 
 
 Asia, eastern Asia and Oceania, and Africa. Countries 
 included in each of these regions are listed in table 2, 
 which also shows how many deposits from each country 
 were evaluated. As shown in table 3,° the Central and 
 South American countries have the largest recoverable 
 copper resources, and the recoverable resources of the 
 North American countries are nearly as large. Individual 
 countries with the largest recoverable copper resources 
 include Chile, the United States, Peru, Zaire, Canada, 
 Zambia, and Mexico. These countries account for over 75 
 pet of the copper potentially recoverable from the market 
 economy deposits studied. Table 4 shows that of these 
 countries' recoverable copper resources, over 60 pet, or 
 approximately 206 million tons, occurs in mines that were 
 producing at the time of the study. An estimated 55 pet of 
 these resources will probably be mined by surface 
 methods. Recoverable copper resources occurring in 
 nonprodueing deposits are described in table 5. 
 
 In the sections that follow, the copper resource of each of 
 the six regions identified in table 2 is discussed. Tables in 
 each section provide a description of each of the deposits 
 evaluated. The deposit descriptions include production 
 status, year of first production, mining and geological 
 type, annual capacity, and size range of copper resource. 
 
 NORTH AMERICA 
 
 The 117 North American deposits analyzed in this study 
 are listed in table 6. These deposits have a resource 
 
 Region and country 
 
 Number of deposits 
 
 North America: 
 
 Canada 
 
 Mexico 
 
 United States 
 
 Central and South America: 
 
 Argentina 
 
 Brazil 
 
 Chile 
 
 Panama 
 
 Penj 
 
 Europe: 
 
 Finland 
 
 Nonway 
 
 Portugal 
 
 Spain 
 
 Sweden 
 
 Yugoslavia 
 
 Middle East and western Asia 
 
 India 
 
 Iran 
 
 Israel 
 
 Jordan 
 
 Oman 
 
 Pakistan 
 
 Saudi Arabia 
 
 Turkey 
 
 Eastern Asia and Oceania: 
 
 Australia 
 
 Burma 
 
 Fiji 
 
 Indonesia 
 
 Japan 
 
 Malaysia 
 
 Papua New Guinea 
 
 Philippines 
 
 Africa: 
 
 Botswana 
 
 Mauritania 
 
 Morocco 
 
 Namibia 
 
 South Africa 
 
 Sudan 
 
 Uganda 
 
 Zaire 
 
 Zambia 
 
 Zimbabwe 
 
 Total 
 
 Producing 
 
 Nonprodueing 
 
 22 
 
 17 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 32 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 146 
 
 126 
 
 ' Unless otherwise specified, all data in the tables in this report are for 
 January 1981, and costs and prices are average 1981 dollars. 
 
 potential of 105 million tons of recoverable copper, or 32 
 pet of the total potentially recoverable from market 
 economy countries. Of the three North American coun- 
 tries, the United States has by far the largest recoverable 
 resources, totaling 66 million tons, with over half 
 occurring in Arizona. (Only Chile's copper resources are 
 larger than those of the United States.) Canada and 
 Mexico also have significant resources of recoverable 
 copper, with totals of 20 and 18 million tons, respectively. 
 (Not included in tables 3-6 is an additional 4 million tons 
 of copper that is potentially recoverable as a byproduct of 
 Canadian nickel deposits. These deposits were not 
 included in the analyses because cost information was 
 unavailable at the time of the study.) Over 60 pet of North 
 American resources occur in mines that were producing at 
 the time of the study. 
 
 Ore grades for North American copper deposits are 
 generally lower than those of the other regions, ranging 
 from 0.67 pet Cu in Mexico to 0.52 pet Cu in Canada. The 
 average grade for U.S. deposits is 0.66 pet Cu. From many 
 Canadian deposits, low-grade copper is economically 
 recoverable only as a coproduet or byproduct of other 
 metal production. 
 
 Thirty-five North American deposits have copper 
 resources of greater than 1 million tons of contained 
 
Table 3. — Copper resource information, by region and country 
 
 Region and country 
 
 Number of deposits 
 
 In-place 
 
 copper grade, 
 
 pet 
 
 Million metric tons 
 
 In-place 
 material 
 
 Contained 
 copper 
 
 Recoverable 
 copper' 
 
 Recoverable 
 
 copper as a 
 
 percent of market 
 
 economy total 
 
 North America: ,„^„ 
 
 Canada .I".*!'.1JII'.*. 39 
 
 Mexico 6 
 
 United States 72 
 
 Total or average^ 117 
 
 Central and South America: 
 
 Argentina 3 
 
 Brazil 3 
 
 Chile 18 
 
 Panama 2 
 
 Peru 12 
 
 Total or average^ 
 
 Europe: 
 
 Spain 
 
 Yugoslavia 
 
 Other 
 
 Total or average^ 
 
 Middle East and western Asia 
 
 India 
 
 Turkey 
 
 Other 
 
 Total or average^ 
 
 Eastern Asia and Oceania: 
 
 Australia 
 
 Papua New Guinea 
 
 Philippines 
 
 Other 
 
 Total or average^ 
 
 Africa: 
 
 Namibia 4 
 
 South Africa 6 
 
 Zaire 9 
 
 Zambia 10 
 
 Other 6 
 
 Total or average^ 35 
 
 Grand total or average^ 272 
 
 ' Losses from mining and processing have been subtracted. 
 
 ^ Data may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding 
 
 0.52 
 .67 
 .66 
 
 .63 
 
 .56 
 1.38 
 .97 
 .77 
 .85 
 
 2.77 
 
 .83 
 
 4,505 
 3,339 
 12,527 
 
 23.4 
 22.5 
 83.0 
 
 128.9 
 
 1,279 
 
 120 
 
 10,352 
 
 1,551 
 
 2,974 
 
 7.2 
 
 1.7 
 
 100.1 
 
 11.9 
 
 25.3 
 
 49,686 
 
 413.4 
 
 20.3 
 18.0 
 66.3 
 
 104.5 
 
 6.2 
 1.3 
 
 85.7 
 9.2 
 
 21.6 
 
 329.5 
 
 6.2 
 
 5.5 
 
 20.1 
 
 1.9 
 
 .4 
 
 26.0 
 
 2.8 
 
 6.6 
 
 38 
 
 .90 
 
 16,276 
 
 146.1 
 
 124.1 
 
 37.7 
 
 4 
 4 
 9 
 
 .64 
 .57 
 .68 
 
 256 
 
 1,347 
 
 719 
 
 1.7 
 7.1 
 4.9 
 
 1.2 
 5.6 
 3.7 
 
 .4 
 1.7 
 1.1 
 
 17 
 
 .59 
 
 2,322 
 
 13.6 
 
 10.6 
 
 3.2 
 
 6 
 5 
 6 
 
 1.26 
 
 1.91 
 
 .87 
 
 244 
 
 99 
 
 856 
 
 3.1 
 1.9 
 7.4 
 
 2.3 
 1.3 
 6.1 
 
 .7 
 
 .4 
 
 1.9 
 
 17 
 
 1.04 
 
 1,198 
 
 12.4 
 
 9.7 
 
 2.9 
 
 15 
 4 
 
 23 
 6 
 
 1.77 
 .50 
 .48 
 .66 
 
 894 
 2,141 
 3,219 
 
 951 
 
 15.8 
 10.8 
 15.4 
 6.3 
 
 11.8 
 8.6 
 
 11.0 
 3.9 
 
 3.6 
 2.6 
 3.3 
 
 1.2 
 
 48 
 
 .67 
 
 7,205 
 
 48.3 
 
 35.3 
 
 10.7 
 
 2.53 
 
 32 
 
 .8 
 
 .5 
 
 .2 
 
 .66 
 
 521 
 
 3.4 
 
 2.9 
 
 .9 
 
 4.01 
 
 693 
 
 28.3 
 
 21.4 
 
 6.5 
 
 3.04 
 
 997 
 
 30.4 
 
 19.4 
 
 5.9 
 
 1.90 
 
 72 
 
 1.4 
 
 1.1 
 
 .3 
 
 13.7 
 
 100.0 
 
 copper each. Resources from these deposits account for 
 nearly 80 pet of the copper recoverable from all North 
 American operations and total nearly 16 billion tons of 
 material averaging 0.65 pet Cu. 
 
 Five North American deposits were either developing or 
 planned for development at the time of this study; one was 
 in Canada, and four were in the United States. The Valley 
 Copper deposit (also known as Lake Zone) in Canada, 
 which was recently purchased by Cominco, Ltd., has 
 published reserves of 726 million tons of ore, with grades 
 of 0.475 pet Cu and 0.005 pet Mo, and minor amounts of 
 gold and silver. Production may be possible by 1984 (3). 
 Two U.S. deposits, the Copper Flat deposit in New Mexico 
 and the Troy deposit in Montana, were in development at 
 the beginning of this study but have since begun 
 production. Copper Flat, a joint venture of Quintana 
 Minerals Corp. and Philbro Mineral Enterprises, has 
 published ore reserves of 54 million tons grading 0.4 pet 
 Cu, 5.5 oz/ton Ag, and 0.22 oz/ton Au; it also contains 
 significant amounts of molybdenum (15). The open pit 
 mine began production in early 1982 but was shut down 
 several months later because of market conditions. The 
 Troy copper-silver mine, owned by ASARCO Incorporated, 
 began limited production in August 1981 and is expected 
 
 to become the largest U.S. producer of silver. A 
 room-and-pillar mining method is yielding 7,700 tons of 
 ore per day. Reserves are sufficient for 17 years of 
 production; grades average 1 pet Cu and approximately 2 
 oz/ton Ag. About $82 million has been invested (14). The 
 Miami East, Ariz., deposit, owned by Cities Service Co., 
 will be an underground cut-and-fill operation. Production 
 was originally scheduled for mid-1982, but has been 
 postponed owing to market conditions. At a daily 
 production of 1,800 tons of ore, the ore body is expected to 
 be mined out in about 13 years (12). The Casa Grande, 
 Ariz., deposit will be an underground operation with a 
 planned daily copacity of 6,350 tons of ore. Production was 
 originally scheduled to begin in 1984, but startup of this 
 mine has also been postponed due to market conditions. 
 
 CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA 
 
 The 38 mines and deposits evaluated in Central and 
 South America are listed in table 7. Demonstrated 
 resources for this region, estimated at 124 million tons of 
 recoverable copper, are larger than those of any other 
 region and account for 38 pet of the copper potentially 
 
.65 
 
 47.9 
 
 28 
 
 1.03 
 
 11.1 
 
 21 
 
 1.02 
 .79 
 
 18.6 
 9.6 
 
 33 
 
 31 
 
 1.00 
 1.36 
 
 44.2 
 .8 
 
 90 
 21 
 
 Table 4. — Average ore grade and recoverable copper from producing mines,' by region and country 
 
 Surface mines Underground mines 
 
 Region and country Average ore grade, ^^Tr'^^^, Average li,e, Average ore grade, ^^^1^1^,, Averagelife, 
 
 *" metric tons '' P" metric tons ^ 
 
 North America: 
 
 Canada 0.38 4.4 15 2.10 3 6 14 
 
 Mexico .71 12.7 44 NAp NAp NAo 
 
 United States .67 30.7 26 .88 7.6 27 
 
 Total or average^ 
 
 Central and South America: 
 
 Chile 
 
 Peru 
 
 Total or average^ .93 28.2 32 1 .01 45.0 85 
 
 Europe .51 5.0 32 1.00 1.2 24 
 
 Middle East and western Asia 1.19 .5 15 1.1g ,5 27 
 
 Eastern Asia and Oceania: 
 
 Australia 
 
 Philippines 
 
 Other 
 
 Total or average^ 
 
 Africa: 
 
 Zaire 
 
 Zambia 
 
 Other 
 
 Total or average^ 
 
 Grand total or average^ .75 101 .1 28 1 .27 84.3 40 
 
 NAp Not applicable. 
 
 ' Does not include mines having leach operations only or combined surface and underground operations. An additional 21 million tons of copper is recoverable from 
 these mines. 
 ^ Data may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding. 
 
 1.79 
 .49 
 
 .44 
 
 .1 
 3.6 
 2.4 
 
 7 
 22 
 16 
 
 3.01 
 
 .47 
 
 2.56 
 
 5.7 
 2.0 
 1.6 
 
 33 
 19 
 18 
 
 .48 
 
 6.1 
 
 19 
 
 1.33 
 
 9.3 
 
 26 
 
 4.05 
 
 NAp 
 
 .55 
 
 11.7 
 
 32 
 
 NAp 
 
 15 
 
 3.90 
 3.20 
 1.48 
 
 5.8 
 
 10.1 
 
 1.3 
 
 33 
 29 
 12 
 
 2.29 
 
 13.4 
 
 28 
 
 3.13 
 
 17.2 
 
 27 
 
 Table 5.— Average ore grade and recoverable copper from developing and explored deposits,' by region and country 
 
 Surface deposits Underground deposits 
 
 Region and country Average ore grade, ^p^-^|?i'o^ Average l«e, Average ore grade, .^p^^-,'^'^^, Averagelife. 
 
 P" metric tons ' P" metric tons '' 
 
 North America: 
 
 Canada 0.47 10.3 24 0.88 0.4 11 
 
 Mexico .59 5.1 20 1.57 .1 13 
 
 UnitedStates .42 10.5 25 .95 11.9 23 
 
 Total or average^ .47 26.0 23 .95 12.4 22 
 
 Central and South America: ==^=^^=^=^==:^:==z=z==z==::^:^==^^^^^=^^^^=^^^ 
 
 Argentina .56 6.2 31 NAp NAp NAp 
 
 Chile .84 20.5 32 1.20 1.1 33 
 
 Peru .87 11.1 25 3.20 .2 11 
 
 Other .77 9.2 45 1.05 .1 11 
 
 Total or average^ 
 
 Europe 
 
 Middle East and western Asia 
 
 Eastern Asia and Oceania: 
 
 Australia 
 
 Philippines 
 
 aher 
 
 Total or average^ 
 
 Africa: 
 
 Zaire 
 
 Zambia 
 
 Other 
 
 Total or average^ 
 
 Grand total or average^ .63 96.6 28 1 .09 22.3 24 
 
 NAp Not applicable. 
 
 ' Does not include deposits having leach operations only or combined surface and underground operations. An additional 4.2 million tons of copper is potentially 
 recoverable from these deposits. 
 ' Data may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding. 
 
 .78 
 
 47.1 
 
 32 
 
 1.28 
 
 1.4 
 
 24 
 
 .43 
 .85 
 
 2.4 
 6.0 
 
 33 
 34 
 
 1.57 
 2.38 
 
 .8 
 1.1 
 
 18 
 18 
 
 .92 
 
 .52 
 .52 
 
 .5 
 2.5 
 8.6 
 
 24 
 
 15 
 27 
 
 1.29 
 
 .60 
 
 NAp 
 
 5.1 
 
 .5 
 
 NAp 
 
 40 
 
 38 
 
 NAp 
 
 .52 
 
 11.7 
 
 23 
 
 1.17 
 
 5.6 
 
 40 
 
 5.70 
 NAp 
 2.63 
 
 3.0 
 NAP 
 
 36 
 
 NAp 
 
 12 
 
 NAp 
 4.08 
 1.03 
 
 NAp 
 .2 
 .8 
 
 NAP 
 19 
 
 4.68 
 
 3.5 
 
 27 
 
 1.26 
 
 1.0 
 
 18 
 
Table 6.— Descriptive information for individual North American copper deposits 
 
 Country and deposit name 
 
 Ownership 
 
 Status' 
 
 Year of 
 
 first 
 produc- 
 
 tion' 
 
 Mining 
 typffT 
 
 Geo- 
 logical 
 type' 
 
 Copper 
 resource' 
 
 Capacity,' 
 thousand 
 
 metric 
 
 tons copper 
 
 per year 
 
 P 
 
 1977 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 17.3 
 
 P 
 
 1972 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 21.4 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 54.7 
 
 P 
 
 1962 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 23.2 
 
 P 
 
 1970 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 11.4 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 25.2 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 29.5 
 
 P 
 
 1955 
 
 s/u 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 36.1 
 
 P 
 
 1959 
 
 u 
 
 O 
 
 A 
 
 10.6 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 6.1 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s/u 
 
 O 
 
 A 
 
 9.5 
 
 P 
 
 1930 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 8.6 
 
 P 
 
 1970 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 8.7 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 46.5 
 
 P 
 
 1957 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 25.7 
 
 P 
 
 1972 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 37.7 
 
 P 
 
 1971 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 20.0 
 
 P 
 
 1966 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 14.8 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 9.0 
 
 P 
 
 1957 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 7.1 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 u 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 8.7 
 
 P 
 
 1961 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 18.8 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 13.6 
 
 P 
 
 1971 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 48.9 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 16.8 
 
 P 
 
 1966 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 D 
 
 111.1 
 
 P 
 
 1964 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 10.6 
 
 P 
 
 1972 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 86.8 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 13.3 
 
 P 
 
 1954 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 14.3 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 14.0 
 
 P 
 
 1973 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 41.6 
 
 P 
 
 1980 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 4.9 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 29.2 
 
 P 
 
 1925 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 23.8 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 15.7 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 39.6 
 
 P 
 
 1976 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 12.3 
 
 D 
 
 1984 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 E 
 
 126.8 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 8.9 
 
 P 
 
 1899 
 
 3 
 
 p 
 
 G 
 
 149.6 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 p 
 
 E 
 
 150.1 
 
 P 
 
 1980 
 
 8 
 
 p 
 
 E 
 
 139.2 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 p 
 
 A 
 
 25.8 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 p 
 
 D 
 
 77.0 
 
 E 
 
 
 s/u 
 
 
 
 C 
 
 109.S 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 B 
 
 21.5 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 u 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 12.4 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 29.4 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 1.3 
 
 P 
 
 1906 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 51.7 
 
 P 
 
 1961 
 
 8 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 8.0 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 U 
 
 P 
 
 ' E 
 
 87.2 
 
 P 
 
 1905 
 
 8/U 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 12.7 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 25.1 
 
 P 
 
 1975 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 4.6 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 7.9 
 
 P 
 
 1959 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 8.8 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 D 
 
 57.2 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 34.4 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 5.5 
 
 P 
 
 1915 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 43.0 
 
 P 
 
 1976 
 
 U 
 
 p 
 
 A 
 
 40.6 
 
 P 
 
 1907 
 
 u 
 
 8 
 
 A 
 
 36.8 
 
 P 
 
 1975 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 D 
 
 50.9 
 
 Canada: 
 
 Atton 
 
 Bell Copper 
 
 Berg 
 
 Bethelem-JA Zone 
 
 Brenda 
 
 Casino 
 
 Catface 
 
 Copper Mountain-Needle 
 
 Mountain. 
 
 Copper Rand 
 
 Coppermine River 
 
 Detour Project 
 
 Flin Flon 
 
 Fox 
 
 Galore Creek 
 
 Geco 
 
 Gibraltar 
 
 Granduc 
 
 Granisle 
 
 Great Lakes Nickel 
 
 Heath Steel (Little River JV) . 
 
 High Lake 
 
 Highmont 
 
 Huckleberry Mountain 
 
 Island Copper 
 
 Izok Lake 
 
 Kidd Creek 
 
 Lake Dufault Division 
 
 Lornox 
 
 Maggie 
 
 Opemiska Division 
 
 Poison Mountain 
 
 Ruttan 
 
 SamGoosly 
 
 Shaft Creek 
 
 Similkameen 
 
 Summer Creek 
 
 Sustut 
 
 Thierry 
 
 Valley Copper 
 
 Mexico: 
 
 Arroyos Azules 
 
 Cananea 
 
 El Arco 
 
 La Caridad 
 
 La Verde 
 
 Santo Tomas 
 
 United States: 
 Alaska: 
 
 Arctic Camp 
 
 Bornite 
 
 Brady Glacier 
 
 Orange Hill-Bond Creek . . 
 
 Yakobi Island 
 
 Arizona: 
 
 Bagdad 
 
 Bluebird 
 
 Casa Grande 
 
 Christmas 
 
 Copper Basin 
 
 Cyprus Johnson 
 
 Dubacher Canyon 
 
 Esperanza 
 
 Florence Conoco 
 
 Helvetia East 
 
 Helvetia West 
 
 Inspiration 
 
 Lakeshore 
 
 Magma (Superior) 
 
 Metcalf 
 
 Teck Corp.-lso Mines Ltd 
 
 Noranda Mines Ltd 
 
 Kennco Explorations (Western). 
 
 Bethlehem Copper Ltd 
 
 Brenda Mines-Noranda 
 
 Casino Mining Co 
 
 Falconbridge-Catface Copper . . 
 Mines Gaspe-Noranda 
 
 Patino Mines 
 
 Coppermine River Ltd 
 
 Seico Mining Corp. Ltd 
 
 Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd. 
 
 Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd 
 
 Stikine Copper Ltd 
 
 Noranda Mines Ltd 
 
 Gibraltar Mines Ltd 
 
 Granduc Mines-Esso Resources 
 
 Noranda Mines Ltd 
 
 Boliden Canada Ltd 
 
 Heath Steel Mines Ltd.-Noranda-Asaroo . 
 
 Kennarctic Explorations 
 
 Highmont Mining Corp 
 
 Kennco Explorations Ltd 
 
 Utah Mines Ltd 
 
 Texasgulf Inc 
 
 do.. 
 
 Falconbridge Copper Ltd 
 
 Lornex Mining Corp. Ltd 
 
 Bethlehem Copper Ltd 
 
 Falconbridge Copper Ltd 
 
 Long Lac Copper Giant 
 
 Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd 
 
 Equity Mining-Placer Development . 
 
 Teck Corp.-Liard Copper Mines 
 
 New^mont Mining Corp 
 
 Global Energy Corp 
 
 Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd 
 
 Union Miniere S.A 
 
 ComincoLtd 
 
 Comision de Fomento Minero 
 
 Industrial Miners Mexico 
 
 Industrial Miners Mexico-Asarco 
 
 Mexicana del Cobre 
 
 Compania Cuprifera la Verde 
 
 Industrial Miners Penoles 
 
 Bear Creek Mining Co. (subsidiary of Kennecott Minerals Co.). 
 
 ....do 
 
 Newmont Mining Corp 
 
 Bear Creek Mining Co. (subsidiary of Kennecott) 
 
 Inspiration Development Co 
 
 Cyprus Mines Corp. (subsidiary of AMOCO Metals Co.) . 
 
 Ranchers Exploration and Development 
 
 Casa Grande Copper Co 
 
 Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co 
 
 Phelps Dodge Corp 
 
 Cypnjs Mines Corp. (subsidiary of AMOCO Metals Co.) . 
 
 Occidental Mineral Corp 
 
 Duval Corp. (subsidiary of Pennzoil) 
 
 Continental Oil (Minerals Division) 
 
 Anamax Mining Co 
 
 Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co 
 
 ....do 
 
 Noranda Mines Ltd 
 
 Msgms Copper Corp 
 
 Phelps Dodge Corp 
 
 See explsnatory notes at end of table. 
 
 recoverable from market economy countries. Nearly 60 
 pet of the resource occurs in the 15 mines that were 
 producing at the time of the study. Chilean deposits 
 contain an estimated 86 million tons of recoverable 
 copper, which is nearly 70 pet of the region's total. Peru 
 has resources estimated at 22 million tons of recoverable 
 copper, or 17 pet of the region's total, while Panama and 
 
 Argentina have resources of 9 and 6 million tons, 
 respectively. 
 
 Chile has the largest recoverable copper resources of ail 
 the market economy countries. (U.S. resources of in-place 
 material are 20 pet larger than those of Chile, but Chile, 
 because of a much higher average ore grade and higher 
 mining and/or processing recoveries, exceeds the United 
 
Table 6.— Descriptive Information for Individual North American copper deposits — Continued 
 
 Country and deposit name 
 
 Ownership 
 
 Status' 
 
 Year of 
 
 first Mining 
 produc- type^ 
 
 tion^ 
 
 Capacity,^ 
 
 °®°" Coonfir thousand 
 
 '°9'=!' reSirce^ ™'"'= 
 type" resource ,Q^g ^^pp^^ 
 
 per year 
 
 United States — Continued: 
 Arizona — Continued 
 
 Miami East 
 
 Miami Leach 
 
 Mineral Parl< 
 
 Mission-San Xavler 
 
 Morenci 
 
 New Cornelia 
 
 Oracle Ridge 
 
 Ox Hide 
 
 Palo Verde 
 
 Peacocl< 
 
 Pima 
 
 Pinto Valley 
 
 Ray 
 
 Red Mountain 
 
 Sacaton 
 
 Safford Inspiration 
 
 Safford Kennecott 
 
 Safford Phelps Dodge . . . 
 
 San Manuel-Kalamazoo . 
 
 Sierrita 
 
 Silver Bell 
 
 Twin Buttes 
 
 Van Dyke 
 
 Vekol Hills 
 
 California; 
 
 Lights Creek 
 
 Walker 
 
 Michigan: 
 
 Presque Isle Syncline 
 
 White Pine 
 
 Minnesota: 
 
 Ely Spruce 
 
 Minnamax 
 
 Montana: 
 
 Butte Copper 
 
 Heddleston 
 
 Stillwater 
 
 Troy 
 
 Nevada: 
 
 New Ruth 
 
 Victoria 
 
 Yerrington 
 
 New Mexico: 
 
 Chino 
 
 Continental Surface 
 
 Continental Underground. 
 
 Copper Flat 
 
 Nacimiento 
 
 Pinos Altos 
 
 Tyrone 
 
 Tennessee: Copper Hill 
 
 Utah: 
 
 Bingham 
 
 Carr Fork 
 
 Washington: Sunrise 
 
 Wisconsin: 
 
 Crandon 
 
 Flambeau 
 
 Pelican River 
 
 Wyoming: Kinwin 
 
 Cities Services Co 
 
 ....do 
 
 Duval Corp. (subsidiary of Pennzoil) . 
 
 Asarco Incorporated 
 
 Phelps Dodge Corp 
 
 .do. 
 
 Continental Copper Co. (subsidiary of Union Oil) 
 
 Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co 
 
 Anamax Mining Co 
 
 Producers Mineral Corp 
 
 Cyprus Mines Corp. (subsidiary of AMOCO Metals Co.) . 
 
 Cities Services Co 
 
 Kennecott Minerals (subsidiary of Standard Oil of Ohio) . 
 
 Kerr-McGee Corp 
 
 ASARCO Incorporated 
 
 Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co 
 
 Kennecott Minerals (subsidiary of Standard Oil of Ohio) . 
 
 Phelps Dodge Corp 
 
 Magma Copper Ltd 
 
 Duval Sierrita (subsidiary of Pennzoil) 
 
 ASARCO Incorporated 
 
 Anamax Mining Co 
 
 Occidental Minerals Corp 
 
 Newmont Mining Corp 
 
 Placer Amex Inc. 
 Calicopia Corp. . 
 
 AMAXInc 
 
 Copper Range Co. 
 
 International Nickel Co. 
 AMAXInc 
 
 Anaconda Co. (subsidiary of Atlantic Richfield Co.) . 
 
 ....do 
 
 ....do 
 
 ASARCO Incorporated 
 
 Kennecott Minerals (subsidiary of Standard Oil of Ohio) . 
 
 Day Mines Inc 
 
 Anaconda Co. (subsidiary of Atlantic Richfield Co.) 
 
 Kennecott Minerals (subsidiary of Standard Oil of Ohio) 
 
 U.V. Industries Inc 
 
 ...do 
 
 Quintana Minerals Corporation-Philbro Mineral Enterprises 
 
 Earth Resources Co 
 
 Exxon Minerals Co 
 
 Phelps Dodge Corp 
 
 Cities Services Co 
 
 Kennecott Minerals (subsidiary of Standard Oil of Ohio) . 
 
 Anaconda Co. (subsidiary of Atlantic Richfield Co.) 
 
 International Brenmac Development Corp 
 
 Exxon Mineral Co 
 
 Flambeau Minerals Corp. (subsidiary of Kennecott) . 
 
 Noranda Mines Ltd 
 
 AMAXInc 
 
 1909 
 1965 
 1961 
 1942 
 1917 
 
 1968 
 1979 
 
 1957 
 1943 
 1911 
 
 1955 
 1970 
 1954 
 1969 
 
 1953 
 
 1982 
 
 1970 
 1974 
 1953 
 
 1912 
 1968 
 1968 
 1982 
 
 1970 
 1941 
 
 1872 
 1979 
 
 U 
 S 
 S 
 S 
 S 
 S 
 U 
 S 
 S 
 S 
 S 
 S 
 S 
 U 
 
 S/U 
 S 
 
 s 
 
 u 
 u 
 s 
 
 S 
 S 
 S 
 S 
 
 s 
 u 
 
 u 
 u 
 
 s 
 u 
 
 S/U 
 
 s 
 s 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 u 
 s 
 
 s 
 s 
 u 
 s 
 s 
 s 
 s 
 s/u 
 
 s 
 u 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 s/u 
 u 
 s 
 
 24.5 
 
 5.3 
 
 14.0 
 
 38.7 
 
 100.2 
 
 43.8 
 
 9.8 
 
 4.3 
 
 23.7 
 
 6.5 
 
 68.6 
 
 82.8 
 
 63.5 
 
 42.8 
 
 22.8 
 
 20.7 
 
 21.9 
 
 116.0 
 
 112.6 
 
 85.0 
 
 18.4 
 
 67.2 
 
 8.0 
 
 28.3 
 
 27.3 
 3.5 
 
 30.6 
 80.0 
 
 48.0 
 52.0 
 
 81.2 
 16.4 
 18.0 
 16.4 
 
 2.1 
 
 5.9 
 
 20.7 
 
 48.8 
 
 10.3 
 
 12.5 
 
 14.9 
 
 1.4 
 
 9.8 
 
 91.0 
 
 4.1 
 
 250.8 
 
 49.5 
 
 7.8 
 
 30.9 
 9.2 
 3.2 
 
 25.6 
 
 ' Status: D — developing or scheduled for development in near future; E — explored deposit, no immediate plans for production; P — producing at the time of the study 
 (includes those temporanly shut down). 
 
 ^ Dash indicates no known production startup date; where a date later than 1 982 is given, production was forecast to start that year. 
 
 ^ Mining type: S — surface; U — underground. For explored deposits, mining type is proposed based on geology and technology. 
 
 " Geological type: P — porphyry, includes disseminated, stockwork, and skarn; S — stratabound sedimentary; M — massive sulfide including volcanogenic deposits; 
 O — other types. 
 
 * Copper resource (thousand tons of contained copper): A— <500; B— 501-1.000; C— 1 ,001-2,000; D— 2,001-3,000; E— 3,001-5,000: F— 5,001-10,000; 
 G— >10,000. 
 
 * Average annual recoverable copper capacity over the life of the mine. For explored deposits, the capacity is the proposed capacity for this evaluation. 
 
 States in recoverable copper.) Nearly 90 pet of Chile's 
 copper resources are controlled through the state copper 
 mining company, Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de 
 Chile (CODELCO-Chile). 
 
 Average ore grades for Central and South American 
 deposits range from 1.38 pet Cu for the three Brazilian 
 deposits to 0.56 pet Cu for the Argentinean deposits. 
 
 Chilean deposits average 0.97 pet Cu, which is nearly 1.5 
 times greater than the average grade for U.S. deposits. 
 The grade for producing surface mines in Chile averages 
 1.02 pet Cu compared with only 0.67 pet Cu in the United 
 States; nonproducing surface deposits in Chile average 
 0.84 pet Cu compared with the U.S. average of 0.42 pet Cu. 
 Chile has expanded production capabilities for its 
 
10 
 
 Table 7.— Descriptive Information for individual Central and South American copper deposits 
 
 Country and deposit name 
 
 Ownership 
 
 Year of 
 
 Status' '"f 
 produc- 
 tion^ 
 
 Capacity,^ 
 
 fi i_ A resource . 
 
 type' '=~"'>->' tons copper 
 
 per year 
 
 type'^ 
 
 Argentina: 
 
 Bajo La Alumbrera Yacimientos Aqua del Dionisio E 
 
 El Paction Cia. Minera Aguilar S.A D 
 
 Parannillo Sur Fabricaciones Militares E 
 
 Brazil: 
 
 Camaqua Fibase E 
 
 Caraiba Caralbas Metais S.A D 
 
 Pedra Verde Promisa-Caraibas Metais S.A E 
 
 Chile: 
 
 Andacollo Enami E 
 
 Andina CODELCO-Chlle P 
 
 Cerro Colorado Cerro Colorado Mine Development Co E 
 
 Chuquicamata CODELCO-Chile P 
 
 El Abra do E 
 
 El Salvador do P 
 
 El Soldado (Disputada) Exxon Minerals Co P 
 
 El Teniente CODELCO-Chile P 
 
 Escondida Utah International-Getty Oil E 
 
 Lo Aguirre Soc. Minera Pudahuel P 
 
 Los Bronces Exxon Minerals Co.-Private P 
 
 Los Pelambres Anaconda Co. Division of Arco D 
 
 Mantos Blancos Empresas Sudamericana Consol P 
 
 Mina Sur (La Exotica) CODELCO-Chile P 
 
 Pampa Norte do E 
 
 Portrerilios do E 
 
 Quebrada Blanca Chilean Govemment-Cia. Exploradora Dona Ines D 
 
 Sagasca Soc. Minera Pudahuel P 
 
 Panama: 
 
 Cerro Colorado Empresa de Cobre Cerro Colorado S.A D 
 
 Cerro Petaquilla Panamanian Government E 
 
 Peru: 
 
 Antamina Minero Peru E 
 
 Berenguela do E 
 
 Cerro Verde-Santa Rosa do P 
 
 Cobriza Centromin .' P 
 
 Coroccohuayco Minero Peru E 
 
 Cuajone Southern Peru Copper Corp.-Billlton Nv P 
 
 El Aguila Empresa Minera el Aguila P 
 
 Michiquillay Minero Penj-Michiquillay Copper Corp E 
 
 Quellaveco Minero Peru E 
 
 Tintaya do D 
 
 Toquepala Southern Peru Copper Corp P 
 
 Toromocho Centromin E 
 
 1986 
 
 1982 
 
 1970 
 
 1915 
 
 1959 
 1842 
 1906 
 
 1980 
 1925 
 1986 
 1961 
 1970 
 
 1986 
 1970 
 
 1977 
 1967 
 
 1976 
 1978 
 
 1984 
 1960 
 
 S P 
 
 S/U O 
 
 U P 
 
 58.5 
 89.8 
 49.5 
 
 11.6 
 
 51.5 
 
 7,3 
 
 73.8 
 
 65.8 
 
 20.3 
 
 437.9 
 
 118.3 
 
 87.4 
 
 15.6 
 
 380.4 
 
 213.8 
 
 11.2 
 
 143.2 
 
 100.7 
 
 23.1 
 
 40.1 
 
 45.2 
 
 14.1 
 
 83.2 
 
 11.2 
 
 172.2 
 32.4 
 
 122.6 
 11.1 
 82.8 
 35.8 
 15.3 
 
 115.1 
 11.1 
 81.6 
 84.7 
 38.3 
 
 104.4 
 
 100.7 
 
 ' Status: D — developing or scheduled for development in near future; E — explored deposit, no immediate plans for production; P — producing at the time of the study 
 (includes those temporanly shut down). 
 
 ' Dash indicates no l<nown production startup date; where a date later than 1982 is given, production was forecast to start that year. 
 
 ^ Mining type: S— surface; U — underground. For explored deposits, mining type is proposed based on geology and technology. 
 
 ' Geological type: P — porphyry, includes disseminated, stockwork, and skam; S — stratat>ound sedimentary; M— massive sulfide including volcanogenic deposits; 
 O — other ^pes. 
 
 5 Copper resource (thousand tons of contained copper): A— <500; B— 501-1 ,000; C— 1,001-2,000; D— 2,001-3,000; E— 3,001-5,000; F— 5,001-10,000; 
 G—> 10,000. 
 
 ° Average annual recoverable copper capacity over the life of the mine. For explored deposits, the capacity is the proposed capacity for this evaluation. 
 
 producing mines, and plans to continue this expansion, in 
 order to maintain its output of refined copper in the face of 
 falling ore grades. As part of Chile's plan to double copper 
 output by 1990, the Chilean Copper Commission recently 
 announced that during the 1980's CODELCO-Chile will 
 annually invest $250 to $300 million in the Andina, 
 Chuquicamata, El Salvador, and El Teniente Mines. This 
 represents a total investment of $2.5 to $3 billion for 
 CODELCO's existing operations, which may be one 
 reason CODELCO has put many of its imdeveloped 
 deposits up for international bid in recent years. The 
 Government plans to enact new legislation allowing 
 private companies to develop large new copper deposits, 
 but plans are for the state to retain control ovg r existing 
 mines (11). Chilean deposits targeted for development 
 during the 1980's are Andacollo, El Abra, La Escondida, 
 Los Bronces, Los Pelambres, and Quebrada Blanca. These 
 deposits are expected to have a combined output potential 
 of 765,000 tons of copper per year. 
 
 The Tintaya, Peru, deposit, with proven reserves of 34 
 million tons and an estimated life of 14 years, is expected 
 
 to come on-stream in 1984. It is estimated that develop- 
 ment costs for the 8,000-ton/d operation, including 
 working capital and interest during construction, will 
 total $300 million (4). Although Peru has several other 
 copper deposits awaiting development, private capital, 
 including foreign capital, is needed to bring them into 
 production. Priority for investment is being given to the 
 Antamina, Tambo Grande, and Toromocho deposits (13, 
 17). 
 
 Other regional projects scheduled for production include 
 the Caraiba in Brazil, Cerro Colorado in Panama, and El 
 Pachon in Argentina. The Caraiba project was originally 
 scheduled to begin production in 1980, but because of high 
 costs and problems in importing equipment, startup was 
 expected to be delayed until 1982. The $1.2 billion 
 operation is expected to reach a production capacity of 
 125,000 tons of contained copper in 1984 (9). Ore reserves 
 at the Cerro Colorado, Panama, deposit are estimated at 
 1.3 billion tons, these reserves are graded at 0.78 pet Cu 
 and 0.015 pet Mo and contain significant gold and silver 
 values. The cost of the project, which is expected to 
 
11 
 
 produce from 150,000 to 200,000 tons of copper in 
 concentrate per year, is now estimated at $2 billion. Rio 
 Tinto Zinc Corp., Ltd., which has a 40-pct interest in the 
 project, recently stated that the earliest possible startup 
 date would be 1987 and that the equivalent of $1.10/lb to 
 $1.20/lb of copper (at 1980 prices) would be required to 
 make the operation economic (10). Production from the El 
 Pachon, Argentina, deposit is scheduled to begin in 1986. 
 The deposit has ore reserves of 800 million tons (0.71 pet 
 Cu, 0.016 pet Mo, and 0.1 oz/ton Ag), and the production 
 goal is 100,000 tons of copper per year. The investment 
 required to develop El Pachon, once estimated at about 
 $1.2 billion (32), is now expected to total $1.8 billion. 
 
 Twenty-five Central and South American deposits have 
 resources of greater than 1 million tons of contained 
 copper each. Together these 25 deposits account for more 
 than 95 pet of the region's recoverable copper. Generally, 
 the largest deposits in Central and South America contain 
 more copper than the largest deposits in the United 
 States; for example, the 12 largest deposits in Chile 
 average 6.6 million tons of recoverable copper per deposit, 
 whereas the 12 largest deposits in the United States 
 average only 3.1 million tons. 
 
 EUROPE 
 
 of all the regions. This is due to the large-tonnage, 
 low-grade Yugoslavian deposits and the fact that the 
 Spanish deposits are coproduct or byproduct operations. 
 
 The European deposits are also small; only 4 of the 17 
 deposits analyzed have ore bodies containing more than 1 
 million tons of copper each. These four are the Aitik Mine, 
 a producing surface mine in Sweden; the Aljustrel Mine, a 
 producing underground mine in Portugal; and two surface 
 deposits in Yugoslavia, the Majdanpek (a producing mine) 
 and the Veliki Krivelj (which is scheduled for production 
 in 1985). 
 
 Three European deposits are expected to begin produc- 
 tion in the near future. The Neves-Corvo, Portugal, 
 deposit is scheduled to begin operation in early 1986. 
 Initial annual production of copper concentrate is pro- 
 jected at 50,000 tons. An investment of about $160 million 
 is planned (20). The Veliki Krivelj, Yugoslavia, deposit 
 has reserves estimated at 700 million tons of ore, with a 
 copper grade of 0.41 pet. The $370 million project has a 
 planned capacity of 28,000 tons of copper per year (8,21). 
 Scheduled to begin production in 1983, the Viscara, 
 Sweden, deposit has published reserves estimated at 50 
 million tons of ore graded at 1.9 pet Cu. However, 
 feasibility study has indicated that only 50 pet of the 
 reserves are recoverable (35). 
 
 Seventeen European deposits were evaluated (table 8). 
 Europe's copper resources are smaller than those of all the 
 other regions except the Middle East and western Asia. 
 Estimated recoverable copper totals 11 million tons, or 
 only 3 pet of that available from market economy 
 countries. Nearly 70 pet of the resource exists in mines 
 producing at the time of the study. Averaging only 0.59 
 pet Cu, ore grades of the European deposits are the lowest 
 
 MIDDLE EAST AND 
 WESTERN ASIA 
 
 Copper resources for this, the smallest of all the regions, 
 are estimated at only 10 million tons of recoverable 
 copper, or 3 pet of that available from market economy 
 countries. Of the 17 deposits evaluated (table 9), 8 were 
 producing at the time of the study; these 8 deposits 
 
 Table 8. — Descriptive information for Individual European copper deposits 
 
 Country and deposit name 
 
 Ownership 
 
 Status' 
 
 Year of 
 first 
 
 produc- 
 tion^ 
 
 Mining 
 type^ 
 
 Geo- 
 logical 
 type" 
 
 Copper 
 resource^ 
 
 Capacity,^ 
 
 thousand 
 
 metric 
 
 tons copper 
 per year 
 
 Finland: 
 
 Keretti Outokumpu Oy 
 
 Pyhasalmi do 
 
 Vuonos do 
 
 Nonway: Tverrfjeilet Folldal Verk A/S 
 
 Portugal: 
 
 Aljustrel Empresa l^ineira e l^etalurgicado do Alentejo E. P.. 
 
 Neves-Corvo Emma-BRGM and Penarroya Sociedade Mineira 
 
 Neves Corvo SARR. 
 Spain: 
 
 Aznalcollar Sociedad Andaluza de Piritas 
 
 Cerro Colorado Rio Tinto Patino S.A 
 
 Santiago do 
 
 Sotiel Minas de Almagreras S.A 
 
 Sweden: 
 
 Aitik Boliden Metall AB 
 
 Stekenjokk do 
 
 Viscaria Luossavaara-Kiyrunauaara AB 
 
 Yugoslavia: 
 
 Bor RTB Bor 
 
 Bucim Bucim Rudnik Za Bakar 
 
 Majdanpek RTB Bor 
 
 Veliki Krivelj do 
 
 1957 
 1962 
 1972 
 1968 
 
 1892 
 1986 
 
 1968 S 
 1975 U 
 1983 S 
 
 1979 S M 
 
 1873 S/U M 
 
 1975 S M 
 
 — U O 
 
 1903 S/U P 
 
 1978 S P 
 
 1965 S P 
 
 1983 S P 
 
 12.3 
 6.8 
 
 11.2 
 5.7 
 
 8.6 
 43.1 
 
 13.4 
 
 32.3 
 
 7.9 
 
 2.6 
 
 36.8 
 6.6 
 
 17.1 
 
 33.8 
 27.6 
 70.1 
 57.1 
 
 ' Status: D — developing or scheduled for development in near future: E — explored deposit, no immediate plans for production : P — producing at the time of the study 
 (Includes those temporarily shut dow/n) 
 
 ' Dash indicates no known production startup date: where a date later than 1982 is given, production was forecast to start that year. 
 
 ' Mining type: S— surface: U — underground. For explored deposits, mining type is proposed based on geology and technology. 
 
 " Geological type: P — porphyry, includes disseminated, stockwork, and skarn: S — stratabound sedimentary: M — massive sulfide including volcanogenic deposits; 
 O — other types. 
 
 ^ Copper resource (thousand tons of contained copper): A— <500; B— 501-1,000: C— 1,001-2.000: D— 2.001-3,000: E— 3,001-5,000: F— 5,001-10.000; 
 G— >10,000 
 
 ' Average annual recoverable copper capacity over the life of the mine. For explored deposits, the capacity is the proposed capacity for this evaluation. 
 
12 
 
 Table 9.— Descriptive information for indlviduai IMiddie East and western Asia copper deposits 
 
 Country and deposit name 
 
 Ownership 
 
 Year of 
 
 Status' ^'"f '^'"'f 
 produc- type^ 
 
 tion^ 
 
 Capacity,^ 
 
 ^s°" ronnpr thousand 
 
 logical resource^ '"^'"^ 
 type" '^esource j^^^g ^^^^^ 
 
 per year 
 
 India: 
 
 Ambaji Gujarat Mineral Development 
 
 Khetri-Kolihan-Chandamri Hindustan Copper Ltd 
 
 Malanjkhand do 
 
 Mosaboni do 
 
 Rakha do 
 
 Surda-Pathagora-Kendadih do 
 
 Iran: Sar Cheshmeh National Iranian Copper 
 
 Israel: Timna Israel Chemical Ltd. (Government) 
 
 Jordan: Wadi Dana Jordan National Res. Auth 
 
 Oman: Wadi Jiza Oman Mining Co 
 
 Pakistan: Saindak Resource Development Corp 
 
 Saudi Arabia: Jabal Sayid Saudi Arabian Government 
 
 Turkey: 
 
 Cayeli Etibank 
 
 Ergani-Madeni do 
 
 Espiye Etibank-Black Sea Copper Works Corp. 
 
 Murgul do 
 
 Siirt Turkish Government 
 
 1973 
 
 1965 
 1919 
 1975 
 1983 
 1959 
 
 1982 
 1985 
 
 — U 
 1980 S 
 1980 S 
 1972 S 
 
 — U 
 
 3.2 
 19.5 
 22.0 
 13.2 
 
 •15.2 
 14.8 
 
 136.5 
 4.2 
 29.2 
 17.8 
 12.9 
 15.6 
 
 12.5 
 7.2 
 7.2 
 
 30.6 
 9.8 
 
 ' Status: D — developing or scheduled for development in near future; E^ — explored deposit, no immediate plans for production; P — producing at the time of the study 
 (includes those temporarily shut down). 
 
 ^ Dash indicates no known production startup date; where a date later than 1982 is given, production was forecast to start that year. 
 
 ^ Mining type: S— surface; U — underground. For explored deposits, mining type is proposed based on geology and technology. 
 
 ' Geological type: P — porphyry, includes disseminated, stockwork, and skarn; S — stratabound sedimentary; M — massive sulfide including volcanogenic deposits; 
 — other types. 
 
 = Copper resource (thousand tons of contained copper): A— <500; B— 501-1,000; C — 1,001-2,000; D— 2,001-3,000; E— 3,001-5,000; F— 5,001-10,000; 
 G—>1 0,000. 
 
 ^ Average annual recoverable copper capacity over the life of the mine. For explored deposits, the capacity is the proposed capacity for this evaluation. 
 
 account for less than 25 pet of the region's recoverable 
 copper. Copper grades are higher than in most other areas 
 of the world, averaging 1.26 pet in India, 1.91 pet in 
 Turkey, and 1.04 pet for the region. 
 
 Only two deposits in the region have resources 
 containing more than 1 million tons of copper each. The 
 Sar Cheshmen deposit in Iran, the largest in the region, 
 contains over 5 million tons of copper. Most of the 
 infrastructure requirements for this deposit were com- 
 pleted by the end of 1978, and ore production had begun. 
 But because of the Iranian revolution, foreign personnel 
 were withdrawn and work was suspended until December 
 1981, when production resumed. The Saindak deposit in 
 Pakistan, the region's other large deposit, has proven 
 copper resources of 374 million tons at an average copper 
 grade of 0.37 pet. The project is scheduled to begin 
 production in 1984 at an estimated cost of more than $300 
 million (33). Estimated to cost $120 million, the Wadi Jiza 
 deposit in Oman began production in 1982 (7). 
 
 EASTERN ASIA 
 AND OCEANIA 
 
 Recoverable copper resources from eastern Asia and 
 Oceania are estimated at 35 million tons, or 11 pet of the 
 total available from market economy countries. Three 
 countries, Australia, the Philippines, and Papua New 
 Guinea account for over 90 pet of the region's resources. 
 As shown in table 10, 48 of the region's deposits were 
 evaluated. Thirteen deposits have resources of more than 
 1 million tons of contained copper each; together they 
 account for over 75 pet of the region's recoverable copper. 
 Average ore grades vary greatly from country to country, 
 ranging from a high of 1.77 pet Cu for the Australian 
 deposits to 0.50 pet Cu in Papua New Guinea and 0.48 pet 
 Cu in the Philippines. 
 
 Several deposits in the region are being developed or are 
 targeted for development in the near future. The largest of 
 these, the OK Tedi deposit in Papua New Guinea, is 
 currently being developed. Three stages of mining are 
 planned; phase 1, scheduled to begin in 1984, will involve 
 mining of the gold cap ore; in phase 2, scheduled for 
 mid-1986, copper and gold ore will be mined; in phase 3, 
 scheduled for 1989, copper production will be doubled and 
 gold production will be converted to copper production, 
 effectively tripling copper output. The project is estimated 
 to cost as much as $2 billion (16). 
 
 Construction problems and bad weather have delayed 
 startup of the Amacan (North Davao) deposit in the 
 Philippines until mid-1982. The original estimated cost of 
 $100 million has been increased to $175 million. Planned 
 capacity is 30,000 tons per day ore (18). Construction is 
 expected to begin soon on the Hinobaan, Philippines, 
 project, and a 1984 production startup is planned. 
 Published reserves are estimated at 98 million tons of ore 
 graded at 0.5 pet Cu. 
 
 A feasibility study is expected to be completed on the 
 Golden Grove, Australia, deposit by 1983, with production 
 possibly beginning in 1986. A partnership of four 
 companies, the project comprises two combined deposits. 
 Gossan Hill and Scuddles. Besides copper, significant 
 quantities of lead, silver, and zinc are present. 
 
 Development is ahead of schedule for the Monywa, 
 Burma, deposit; production was scheduled to begin in 
 1982. Planned mine capacity has been increased to 12,000 
 tons of ore per day. A proposal to build a smelter on-site 
 for $30 million is being considered (34). 
 
 AFRICA 
 
 Copper resources from African deposits are estimated at 
 45 million tons of recoverable copper, or 14 pet of those 
 
13 
 
 Table 10. — Descriptive information for individual eastern Asia and Oceania copper deposits 
 
 Country and deposit name 
 
 Ownership 
 
 
 Year of 
 
 
 
 
 Capacity.^ 
 
 atus' 
 
 first 
 
 produc- 
 
 tion= 
 
 type^ 
 
 Geo- 
 logical 
 type" 
 
 Copper 
 resource^ 
 
 tfiousand 
 
 metric 
 
 tons copper 
 
 per year 
 
 E 
 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 14.4 
 
 P 
 
 1907 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 10.8 
 
 b 
 
 — 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 3.5 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 7.0 
 
 U 
 
 1986 
 
 U 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 25.5 
 
 P 
 
 1927 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 3.4 
 
 h 
 
 — 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 5.3 
 
 t 
 
 — 
 
 S 
 
 S 
 
 A 
 
 6.6 
 
 b 
 
 — 
 
 S 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 11.7 
 
 P 
 
 1931 
 
 U 
 
 M 
 
 F 
 
 135.5 
 
 P 
 
 1935 
 
 U 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 17.5 
 
 b 
 
 — 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 F 
 
 80.2 
 
 P 
 
 1953 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 19.3 
 
 P 
 
 1979 
 
 U 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 6.5 
 
 P 
 
 1979 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 7.3 
 
 D 
 
 1987 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 17.1 
 
 b 
 
 — 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 E 
 
 57.8 
 
 P 
 
 1972 
 
 u 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 63.9 
 
 P 
 
 1973 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 B 
 
 16.8 
 
 P 
 
 1898 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 6.5 
 
 P 
 
 1975 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 14.2 
 
 P 
 
 1972 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 D 
 
 130.5 
 
 b 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 E 
 
 82.7 
 
 D 
 
 1984 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 D 
 
 85.7 
 
 E 
 
 - 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 70.3 
 
 D 
 
 1982 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 23.3 
 
 P 
 
 1979 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 25.1 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 14.1 
 
 P 
 
 1962 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 38.8 
 
 P 
 
 1969 
 
 u 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 8.9 
 
 P 
 
 1974 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 19.5 
 
 P 
 
 1977 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 61.1 
 
 P 
 
 1980 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 22.8 
 
 D 
 
 1984 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 28.3 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 15.8 
 
 P 
 
 1978 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 21.2 
 
 P 
 
 1865 
 
 u 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 14.6 
 
 P 
 
 1966 
 
 u 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 47.1 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 6.9 
 
 P 
 
 1979 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 17.4 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 C 
 
 61.1 
 
 P 
 
 1972 
 
 u 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 5.1 
 
 P 
 
 1957 
 
 u 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 27.4 
 
 P 
 
 1936 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 E 
 
 44.8 
 
 P 
 
 1969 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 B 
 
 43.4 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 5.0 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 21.7 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 A 
 
 10.0 
 
 Australia: 
 
 Benambra 
 
 C.S.A 
 
 Cadia 
 
 Chesney 
 
 Golden Grove 
 
 Gunpowder (Mammotfi) . . 
 
 Kanmantoo 
 
 Lady Annie 
 
 Mons Cupri-Wtiim Creek. 
 
 Mount Isa 
 
 Mount Lyell 
 
 Roxby Downs 
 
 Tennant Creek 
 
 Teutonic Bore 
 
 Woodlawn 
 
 Burma: Monywa 
 
 Fiji: Namosi 
 
 Indonesia: Ertsberg 
 
 Japan: 
 
 Hanaoka 
 
 Kosaka 
 
 Malaysia: Mamut 
 
 Papua New Guinea: 
 
 Bougainville 
 
 Freida River 
 
 OK Tedi 
 
 Western Mining-British Petroleum 
 
 Conzinc Riotinto Australia Ltd 
 
 Pacific Copper Ltd.-Estel NV Hoescfi 
 
 Conzinc Riotinto Australia Ltd 
 
 Esso-Amax (Australia)-EZ Industries-Aztec 
 
 Gunpowder Copper Joint Venture 
 
 Conzinc Riotinto Australia Ltd 
 
 Traiko Mines-Mount Isa Mines Ltd 
 
 Wfiim Creek-Texasgulf 
 
 Mount Isa Mines Ltd 
 
 Mount Lyell Mining and Railway 
 
 Western Mining - Britisfi Petroleum 
 
 Peko Wallsend Ltd 
 
 Seltrust-Mount Isa Mines Ltd 
 
 St. Joe-Pfielps Dodge-Conzinc 
 
 Burma Government 
 
 Viti Copper Ltd 
 
 Freeport Indonesia Inc 
 
 Yandera 
 
 Philippines: 
 Amacan (North Davao) 
 Basay 
 
 Dowa Mining Co. Ltd 
 
 ....do 
 
 Overseas Mineral Resource Development 
 
 Papua New Guinea Government-CRA-Public-Panguna. . . 
 
 Conzinc Rio Algom 
 
 Papua New Guinea Government-Metallgesellschaft-BHP- 
 
 AMOCO Metals Co. 
 Triaco-Buka-Broken Hill 
 
 Batong-Buhay . . 
 
 Biga (Atlas) 
 
 Black Mountain . 
 Boneng-Lobo . . . 
 Carmen (Atlas) . . 
 
 Dizon 
 
 Hinobaan 
 
 Inayawan 
 
 Ino-Capayang. . . 
 
 Lepanto 
 
 Lutopan (Atlas). . 
 Mapula-Masara . 
 
 Sabena 
 
 San Antonio . . . . 
 
 Santo Nino 
 
 Santo Tomas . . . 
 
 Sipalay 
 
 Tapian 
 
 Tawi-Tawi 
 
 Taysan 
 
 Trident (Sulat) . . 
 
 North Davao-Private 
 
 Southern Star Mining and Industrial Corporation-Construction 
 and Development Corporation of the Philippines. 
 
 Development Bank of Philippines 
 
 Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp 
 
 Various claim holders 
 
 Western Minoico Corp 
 
 Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp 
 
 Benquet Corp 
 
 Lepanto Consolidated Mining-Philippine Government 
 
 Denmag (Philippines) Inc 
 
 Consolidated Mines Inc 
 
 Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. Inc 
 
 Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp 
 
 Apex Mining Co 
 
 Sabena Mining Corp 
 
 Philippine Government 
 
 Baguio Gold Mining Co., Inc 
 
 Philex Mining Corp 
 
 Marinduque Mining and Industrial Corp 
 
 Philippine Government 
 
 Benquet Corp 
 
 ....do 
 
 Trident Mining and Industrial Co 
 
 ' Status: D — developing or scheduled for development in near future: E — explored deposit, no immediate plans for production ; P — producing at the time of the study 
 (includes those temporarily shut down). 
 
 ^ Dash indicates no known production startup date: where a date later than 1 982 is given, production was forecast to start that year. 
 
 ^ Mining type: S— surface; U — underground. For explored deposits, mining type is proposed based on geology and technology. 
 
 ■■ Geological type: P — porphyry, includes disseminated, stockwork, and skarn; S — stratabound sedimentary: M — massive sulfide including volcanogenic deposits; 
 O— other types. 
 
 * Copper resource (thousand tons of contained copper): A— <500; B— 501-1 ,000; C— 1 ,001-2,000; D— 2,001-3,000; E— 3,001-5,000; F— 5,001-10,000; 
 G—> 10,000. 
 
 ° Average annual recoverable copper capacity over the life of the mine. For explored deposits, the capacity is the proposed capacity for this evaluation. 
 
 available from market economy countries. Thirty-five 
 deposits were analyzed (table 11). Ninety percent of 
 Africa's copper resources are from mines producing at the 
 time of the study; only six of the deposits analyzed were 
 not producing. Zaire and Zambia account for nearly 90 pet 
 of the region's resources; Zaire has an estimated 21 
 million tons of recoverable copper and Zambia has 19 
 million tons. 
 
 Of the 10 Zambian deposits analyzed, three, the 
 Chingola, Konkola, and Rokana, are operating copper 
 divisions. Each of the divisions, owned by Zambia 
 Consolidated Copper Mines, Ltd., is composed of multiple 
 
 ore bodies and mines. The mines for each of the divisions 
 are combined for analysis in this report. 
 
 Copper grades for the African deposits are among the 
 highest in the world. For the region, copper grades 
 average 2.77 pet; this is nearly three and one-half times 
 greater than the average for all the deposits studied. The 9 
 Zairian deposits, 8 of which were producing, have an 
 average grade of 4.01 pet Cu; the 10 Zambian deposits, 9 of 
 which are producing average 3.04 pet Cu. The high ore 
 grade in these countries is due to the fact that the deposits 
 occur as massive sulfides in sediments (as compared to 
 lower grades associated with disseminated prophyry 
 
14 
 
 Table 11. — Descriptive information for individual African copper deposits 
 
 Country and deposit name 
 
 Ownership 
 
 
 Year of 
 
 
 
 
 Capacity,* 
 
 atus' 
 
 first 
 
 produc- 
 
 tion^ 
 
 Minina 
 type*^ 
 
 Geo- 
 logical 
 type" 
 
 Copper 
 resource* 
 
 thousand 
 
 metric 
 
 tons copper 
 
 per year 
 
 P 
 
 1974 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 13.9 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 S 
 
 S 
 
 A 
 
 23.4 
 
 P 
 
 1977 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 15.6 
 
 P 
 
 1966 
 
 U 
 
 s 
 
 A 
 
 4.2 
 
 P 
 
 1965 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 9.0 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 12.4 
 
 P 
 
 1900 
 
 U 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 7.6 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 18.0 
 
 P 
 
 1980 
 
 U 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 5.4 
 
 P 
 
 1906 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 7.1 
 
 P 
 
 1965 
 
 U 
 
 O 
 
 A 
 
 23.8 
 
 P 
 
 1965 
 
 S 
 
 P 
 
 D 
 
 116.7 
 
 P 
 
 1973 
 
 U 
 
 M 
 
 A 
 
 23.5 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 22.5 
 
 D 
 
 1983 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 10.2 
 
 P 
 
 1975 
 
 S 
 
 s 
 
 F 
 
 122.8 
 
 P 
 
 1930 
 
 s/u 
 
 s 
 
 B 
 
 14.0 
 
 P 
 
 1926 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 B 
 
 37.7 
 
 P 
 
 1972 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 F 
 
 103.5 
 
 P 
 
 1926 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 C 
 
 21.6 
 
 P 
 
 1956 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 F 
 
 219,5 
 
 P 
 
 1972 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 C 
 
 37.1 
 
 P 
 
 1945 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 A 
 
 24.8 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 F 
 
 82.2 
 
 P 
 
 1973 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 C 
 
 57.2 
 
 P 
 
 1965 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 C 
 
 40.2 
 
 P 
 
 1965 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 C 
 
 20.0 
 
 P 
 
 1965 
 
 s/u 
 
 s 
 
 F 
 
 267.5 
 
 E 
 
 — 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 A 
 
 14.0 
 
 P 
 
 1978 
 
 s/u 
 
 s 
 
 A 
 
 3.9 
 
 P 
 
 1957 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 F 
 
 44.3 
 
 P 
 
 1931 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 C 
 
 44.5 
 
 P 
 
 1933 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 F 
 
 121.0 
 
 P 
 
 1919 
 
 s/u 
 
 s 
 
 E 
 
 66.6 
 
 Botswana: Selebi-Phikwe BCL Ltd 
 
 Mauritania: Akjoujt Societe Nationale Industrielle et MIniere . 
 
 Morocco: El Bleida Societe Miniere de Bou Gaffer 
 
 Namibia: 
 
 Klein Aub Klein Aub Kopermaatskappy Beperk . . . . 
 
 Kombat-Asis West Tsumeb Corp. Ltd 
 
 Otjihase Tsumeb Corp. Ltd.-Otjihase Ltd 
 
 Tsumeb Tsumeb Corp. Ltd 
 
 South Africa: 
 
 Black Mountain Phelps Dodge-G.F.S.A 
 
 Broken Hill do 
 
 Messina Messina (Transvaal) Development Ltd. . . 
 
 O'Okiep O'Okiep Copper Co. Ltd 
 
 Palabora Palabora Mining Co 
 
 Prieska Prieska Copper Mine Ltd 
 
 Sudan: Hofrat en Nahas Sudan Government 
 
 Uganda: Kilembe Ugandan Government 
 
 Zaire: 
 
 Dikuluwe-Mashamba Gecamines 
 
 Kakanda-Diselle do 
 
 Kambove do 
 
 Kamoto Underground do 
 
 Kipushi do 
 
 KovOpen Pit do 
 
 Musoshi-Kinsenda Sodimiza 
 
 Mutoshi Ruwe Gecamines 
 
 Tenke Fungurume Cogema-Charter-Mitsui-Gecamines . . . 
 
 Zambia: 
 
 Baluba Roan Consolidated Mines Ltd 
 
 Chambishi do 
 
 Chibuluma do 
 
 Chingola Division Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Ltd. 
 
 Kalulushi East Roan Consolidated Mines Ltd 
 
 Kansanshi Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Ltd. 
 
 Konkola Division do 
 
 Luanshya Roan Consolidated Mines Ltd 
 
 Mufilira do 
 
 Rokana Division Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Ltd. 
 
 Zimbabwe: 
 
 Mangula (Miriam) MTD (Mangula) Ltd 
 
 1958 
 
 U 
 
 10.2. 
 
 ' Status: D — developing or scheduled for development in near future; E — explored deposit, no immediate plans for production; P — producing at the time of the study 
 (includes those temporarily shut down). 
 
 ^ Dash indicates no known production startup date; where a date later than 1 982 is given, production was forecast to start that year. 
 
 ^ Mining type: S — surface; U — underground. For explored deposits, mining type is proposed based on geology and technology. 
 
 ' Geological type: P — porphyry, includes disseminated, stockwork, and skarn; S — stratabound sedimentary; M — massive sulfide including volcanogenic deposits; 
 O — other types. 
 
 * Copper resource (thousand tons of contained copper): A— <500; B— 501-1,000; C— 1,001-2,000; D— 2,001-3,000; E— 3,001-5,000; F— 5,001-10,000; 
 G—> 10,000. 
 
 * Average annual recoverable copper capacity over the life of the mine. For explored deposits, the capacity is the proposed capacity for this evaluation. 
 
 deposits in igneous rocks). South African deposits, which 
 contain 6 pet of Africa's recoverable copper resource, have 
 a much lower grade, averaging only 0.66 pet Cu. 
 
 Fifteen African deposits, 14 of which were producing, 
 each have resources of greater than 1 million tons of 
 contained copper. These 15 deposits account for over 90 pet 
 of the region's recoverable copper. According to available 
 
 information, none of the African deposits were developing. 
 However, feasibility studies are planned for the Kilembe, 
 Uganda, deposit to determine the possibility of recovering 
 cobalt from concentrate stockpiled on site and the 
 feasibility of reopening mining operations. Extensive 
 exploration to delineate the Kilembe ore body was 
 planned for 1981 (36). 
 
 DEPOSIT EVALUATION PROCEDURE 
 
 Illustrated in figure 3 is the flow of the Bureau's 
 Minerals Availability System (MAS) evaluation process, 
 from deposit identification to the development of availa- 
 bility curves. This flowsheet shows the various evaluation 
 stages used in this study to assess the availability of 
 copper from individual properties. After a deposit was 
 identified for analysis, an economic evaluation of the 
 property was performed. Optimal mining, concentrating, 
 smelting and refining methods, production rates, and 
 
 other production parameters were chosen using current 
 engineering principles. Startup dates for developing 
 deposits were based on announced company plans. For 
 explored deposits, a near-term development schedule (5 to 
 10 years) was developed. Planned expansions for operat- 
 ing mines were included when known. 
 
 Information on average grades, ore tonnages, and 
 different physical characteristics affecting production was 
 obtained from various sources, including Bureau and U.S. 
 
15 
 
 
 dentif 
 an 
 
 cotlon 
 d 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ["Ml"ne~al ^ 
 Industries 1 
 1 Location 1 
 ' System 1 
 1 (MILS) 1 
 1 data J 
 
 MAS 
 
 computer 
 
 data 
 
 base 
 
 te 1 ectlon 
 of deposits 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ton nage 
 
 and grade 
 
 determination 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 Englnee ring 
 and cost 
 evol uatlon 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 ' 1 
 
 
 Deposit 
 
 report 
 
 preparation 
 
 
 MAS 
 
 permanent 
 
 deposit 
 
 files 
 
 
 ' 
 
 ' 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Taxes, 
 
 royalties, 
 
 cost indexes, 
 
 prices, etc. 
 
 Data 
 
 selection and 
 
 va lidatlon 
 
 Availobility 
 curve I I J 
 
 Analytical 
 reports 
 
 Figure 3.— Deposit evaluation procedure. 
 
 Variable and 
 parameter 
 adjustments 
 
 Sensitivity 
 ano lysis 
 
 Data 
 
 Availability 
 curve* 
 
 Anolyticol 
 reports 
 
 Geological Survey publications, professional journals, 
 State and industry publications, annual reports, company 
 lOK reports and prospectuses filed with the Securities and 
 Exchange Conunission, private companies, and estimates 
 made by Bureau personnel. Much of the foreign data was 
 collected through Bureau contracts. 
 
 CAPITAL AND OPERATING 
 COST ESTIMATION 
 
 When possible, actual company cost data were used. If 
 these data were not available, the required capital and 
 operating costs were estimated by standardized costing 
 techniques or in limited cases from a costing system 
 prepared for the Bureau (5). This system is designed to 
 prepare capital and operating cost estimates through the 
 use of equations, curves, and factors. Based on an average 
 of the costs for existing mining operations in the United 
 States and Cemada, the system covers operations of 
 different size. Because the system was developed using 
 U.S. and Canadian costs, it is necessary to apply exchange 
 rates, inflation rates, and productivity differences (com- 
 pared to those of the United States) in order to determine 
 the U.S.-dollar-equivalent cost of doing business in a 
 foreign country. Correct use of this costing system will 
 produce reliable estimates, which historically have fallen 
 within 25 pet of actual costs. 
 
 The cost data were used to perform an economic 
 analysis for each property. Capital and operating costs for 
 developing and explored deposits were adjusted to average 
 1981 dollars. Mine and mill capital costs incurred prior to 
 1981 by producing mines (and some developing and 
 explored deposits) were adjusted to average 1981 using 
 the remaining book value of the investments. Foreign 
 deposit costs were adjusted to U.S. dollars based on foreign 
 exchange rates, productivity factors, and inflation rates. 
 These computations reflect the cost of doing business in 
 the foreign country in U.S. dollar equivalents. 
 
 Capital expenditures were calculated for exploration, 
 acquisition, development, and mine and mill plant and 
 equipment. Capital expenditures for mining and process- 
 tiing facilities include the costs of mobile and stationary 
 equipment, construction, engineering, infrastructure, and 
 working capital. A broad category, infrastructure in- 
 cludes, among other things, the costs of the water system, 
 power system, fire protection, roads, port facilities, 
 construction of necess£try rail facilities, and, in remote 
 areas, construction of town and housing facilities. Work- 
 ing capital is a revolving cash fund for such operating 
 expenses as labor, insurance, supplies, and taxes. 
 
 Mine and mill operating costs were also calculated for 
 each deposit. The total operating cost is a combination of 
 direct and indirect costs. Direct operating costs include 
 direct and maintenance labor, materials, payroll over- 
 head, and utilities. Indirect operating costs include 
 administrative costs, facilities maintenance and supplies, 
 research, and technical and clerical labor. Other costs not 
 included in operating costs but used in the analysis 
 include deferred expenses, depreciation, insurance, in- 
 terest payments (if applicable), and taxes. 
 
 The Bureau previously developed a Supply Analysis 
 Model (SAM) to perform an economic analysis which 
 presents the results as the primary commodity price (total 
 production cost) needed to provide a stipulated rate of 
 return (7). The rate of return (ROR) used in this study is 
 the discounted-cash-flow ROR, most commonly defined as 
 the ROR that makes the present worth of cash flows from 
 an investment equal to the present worth of all after-tax 
 investments (26). For this study, a 15-pct ROR was 
 considered necessary to cover the opportunity cost of 
 capital plus risk. For some government-owned operations, 
 a 15-pct ROR may not be required for continued 
 production. However, for comparison purposes, each 
 deposit was analyzed at this ROR. 
 
 For producing mines, analysis was also performed at a 
 0-pct ROR, which is roughly equivalent to a break-even 
 production cost. In the short run, a mine may continue to 
 
16 
 
 produce at copper prices even below this cost in 
 anticipation of improved market conditions. 
 
 ASSUMPTIONS 
 
 The objective of the engineering-economic analysis for 
 each deposit was to determine the total cost necessary to 
 produce a specified level of output from the deposit. Total 
 cost, also called commodity or incentive price, is defined as 
 the average total cost of production for the deposit. In this 
 study, profit computed at a 15-pct ROR was included in 
 the total cost. Total cost, then, is the minimum copper 
 price (in constant dollars) at which a firm would be willing 
 to develop its property; at this price, the firm would 
 recover its investment and make a 15-pct profit. 
 
 Determinations of the quantity of copper that could be 
 produced and the cost required to achieve this production 
 were based on the following assumptions: 
 
 1. Each operation will produce at full planned operat- 
 ing capacity throughout its life. (Capacities were based on 
 1980 and/or 1981 company plans or on engineering 
 judgments.) 
 
 2. Competition and demand conditions are such that 
 each operation will be able to sell all its output at its total 
 production cost. (This condition implies that the level of 
 copper demand will support the highest cost deposit, or 
 that existing government subsidies will equal the differ- 
 ence between the market price and the total cost for each 
 submarginal deposit.) 
 
 3. All byproducts will be sold at the prices shown on 
 table 12. 
 
 4. Concentrates produced by the deposits analyzed can 
 be processed at existing smelters and refineries on a 
 custom basis, or new smelter and refinery facilities can be 
 constructed at a comparable cost. (The adequacy of 
 existing smelting and refining capacities was not 
 analyzed.) 
 
 5. Startup dates for deposits not producing at the time 
 of the study were proposed. If a deposit was not scheduled 
 for production, initial development was scheduled for 
 1981. 
 
 Time lags involved in filing environmental impact 
 
 Table 12. — Byproduct commodity prices used In analysis' 
 
 Commodity and unit Price 
 
 Cadmium lb. . $2.50 
 
 Cobalt lb. . 5.00 
 
 Gold tr oz. . 425.00 
 
 Iron ton . . 80.50 
 
 Lead lb.. .34 
 
 Molybdenum^ lb. . 4.00 
 
 Nickel lb. . 3.45 
 
 Silver tr oz. . 10.00 
 
 Sulfur ton . . 1 17.50 
 
 Uranium^ lb. . 25.00 
 
 Zinc lb.. .41 
 
 ' Based on average commodity prices except for gold, silver, 
 molybdenum, and cobalt, which were lowered from temporary highs to 
 long-run prices. 
 
 ^ In concentrate. 
 
 ^ As U,0.. 
 
 statements and receiving necessary permits, financing, 
 etc., were not included in the analysis. Existing laws and 
 regulations, environmental, political, legal, or other 
 constraints may limit production from some of the 
 deposits included in this study. 
 
 The byproduct and coproduct prices used in this study 
 (table 12) were based on 1981 averages with the exception 
 of gold, silver, molybdenum, and cobalt prices, which were 
 lowered from the temporary highs that existed at that 
 time to more realistic long-run prices. Because the study 
 was conducted using constant 1981 dollars, no escalation 
 of either costs or prices was included. 
 
 AVAILABILITY CURVES 
 
 After price and quantity data were determined for each 
 deposit, total and annual resource availability curves 
 were constructed to indicate copper availability. These 
 curves are discontinuous functions relating the total cost 
 (as defined in the "Assumptions" section) for a deposit to 
 its level of production. The total or annual quantity of 
 copper from each deposit was accumulated from lowest to 
 highest total cost to show copper availability. A total 
 resource availability curve is not an ordinary supply curve 
 because it ignores the paramenter of time and is not the 
 industry's marginal cost curve. Rather, a total resource 
 availability curve is an aggregate of the "industry's total 
 production potential at a stipulated cost which covers full 
 production costs. 
 
 For the engineering analysis, it was necessary to 
 determine a development schedule for each property. For 
 producing mines, expansions considered to have a high 
 probability of occurring were included. For nonproducing 
 deposits, the time required for development depends upon 
 a number of factors, including the location of the deposit, 
 the need for further exploration, plant construction and 
 infrastructure requirements, depth of overburden, and the 
 mining method to be used. Curves that take these factors 
 into consideration, called annual resource availability 
 curves, were included in the study. Annual resource 
 availability curves are disaggregations of total resource 
 curves to an annual production basis. Compared with total 
 availability curves, annual availability curves more 
 closely resemble true supply curves since they show 
 annual production; but they also indicate average total 
 cost of production rather than marginal cost. 
 
 Separate annual availability curves were constructed 
 for producing mines and nonproducing (developing and 
 explored) deposits. Annual curves for producing mines 
 showed the copper capacity of existing mines and for 
 planned expansions when known. Annual curves for most 
 nonproducing deposits cannot be related to any given year 
 since production is not expected in the near future. They 
 do, however, show required lead times before production 
 can begin and indicate potential annual production 
 capabilities. Annual availability curves for nonproducing 
 deposits are important because they show production costs 
 and capabilities for future mines. 
 
17 
 
 OPERATING AND CAPITAL COSTS 
 
 The average total cost calculated for each of the deposits 
 analyzed included mining, concentrating, and smelting 
 and refining operating costs; transportation costs to the 
 mill, smelter, eind refinery; capital recovery; taxes and 
 profit. (The cost of transportation from the refinery to the 
 copper market is not included.) These costs often vary 
 greatly, depending on such factors as size of operation, 
 mining method, deposit location, stripping ratio, depth of 
 ore body, grade of copper and byproducts, processing 
 losses, energy and labor costs, and applicable tax 
 structure. 
 
 The operating costs presented in this section are 
 weighted averages based on producing ore and refined 
 metal over the life of the operation. Capital costs for 
 deposits not producing at the time of the study reflect the 
 total investment required to develop a mine, construct all 
 facilities, and begin production. Capital costs for produc- 
 ing mines are not shown because some of the mines have 
 been producing for many years and a large portion of the 
 initial cost has been depreciated. 
 
 MINE AND MILL 
 OPERATING COSTS 
 
 This section presents operating cost data for all surface 
 and underground copper mines (except conibined surface 
 and underground operations) that were producin at the 
 time of this study. Mine and mill cost data for he 57 
 surface mines and 57 underground mines that were 
 producing are summarized in table 13; data for 32 
 additional producing mines with combined operations or 
 
 which have only leaching facilities are not included. Costs 
 for individual deposits may vary greatly from the country 
 averages shown. 
 
 As shown in table 13, the average mining and milling 
 cost for producing surface mines was $7.40 per ton of ore; 
 $3.80/ton for mining and $3.60/ton for milling. (In this 
 section, all costs per ton are costs per ton of ore.) The 
 United States, which accounts for over 30 pet of the 
 annual capacity of producing surface mines in market 
 economy countries, had average costs of $4.10/ton for 
 mining and $3.90/ton for milling, which were slightly 
 greater than foreign producers' costs. Chile, which 
 accounts for 16 pet of the capacity from producing surface 
 mines in market economy countries, had average costs of 
 $5.40/ton for mining, and $2.90/ton for milling. Although 
 the Chilean mining cost is high, Chile's mines are able to 
 compete with other mines because of the high quality of 
 Chilean ores; the average grade is more than 1 pet Cu. The 
 Philippine surface mines had the lowest mining and 
 milling cost, averaging $6.00/ton. The average mining 
 and milling cost in Zaire, at $22.30/ton, was 300 pet 
 higher than the average for all surface mines. This is 
 because the productivity of Zaire's mines is low, and 
 additional processing is required to recover byproducts 
 from the ore. However, the extremely high quality of 
 Zaire's ores (which average 4.05 pet Cu) and significant 
 byproducts enable its mines to compete with lower cost 
 operations. 
 
 Mining and milling costs per ton of ore are higher for 
 underground mines than those for surface mines. 
 Although the average milling cost for underground mines 
 ($3.50/ton) is about equal to the average milling cost for 
 
 Table 13. — Estimated mine and mill operating costs for producing copper mines 
 
 Type of operation and country 
 
 Total annual 
 Number of mines Average ore grade, capacity, thousand 
 pet Cu metric tons 
 
 recoverable copper 
 
 Cost per metric tons of ore' 
 
 fvline 
 
 Mil|2 
 
 Total 
 
 38 
 
 19 
 
 .79 
 .67 
 
 2,451 
 1,163 
 
 3.70 
 4.10 
 
 3.50 
 3.90 
 
 7.10 
 8.00 
 
 57 
 
 .75 
 
 3,614 
 
 3.80 
 
 3.60 
 
 7.40 
 
 Surface:^ 
 
 Canada 10 0.38 286 $3.00 $3.10 $6.20 
 
 Chile 3 1.02 571 5.40 2.90 8.30 
 
 Penj 4 .79 313 3.40 4.30 7.70 
 
 Philippines 6 .49 169 2.90 3.20 6.00 
 
 Zaire 3 4.05 367 14.10 8.20 22.30 
 
 Other countries 12 .61 744 2.50 3.30 5.80 
 
 Total or average foreign countries' . 
 United States 
 
 Total or average, all countries'. . . 
 
 Underground:^ 
 
 Australia 4 3.01 172 12.40 7.00 19.40 
 
 Canada 10 2.10 252 13.30 5.80 19.20 
 
 Chile 4 1.00 491 4.30 2.20 6.50 
 
 Philippines 5 .47 103 3.20 2.60 580 
 
 Zaire 3 3.90 178 29.70 11.40 41.20 
 
 Zambia 6 3.20 349 15.50 7.60 23.10 
 
 Other countries 20 1.43 302 13.70 5.70 19.40 
 
 Total or average, foreign countries' .. . 52 1.34 1,847 6.70 3.30 10.00 
 
 UnKed States 5 .88 282 8.50 4.90 13.40 
 
 Total or average, all countries' 57 1.27 2,129 6.90 3.50 10.50 
 
 Grand total or average:' 
 
 Foreign countries 90 1.01 4,297 4.90 3.40 8.30 
 
 United States 24 .71 1 ,445 4.90 4.00 8.90 
 
 All countries 114 S3 5,742 4£0 3^60 8.50 
 
 ' Data may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding. 
 
 ' Does not include mines having leach facilities only. Mines having combined float and leach operations are included. 
 
 ' Does not include mines having combined surface and underground operations. An additional 960,000 tons of copper is recoverable annually from these 
 mines. 
 
18 
 
 surface mines ($3.60/ton), the average mining cost for 
 underground mines ($6.90/ton) is nearly twice as high as 
 the mining cost average for surface mines ($3.80/ton). 
 However, much of the difference in mining cost is offset by 
 the fact that ore grades are generally much higher for 
 underground mines; the average grade is 1.27 pet Cu for 
 underground ores versus 0.75 pet Cu for surface ores. 
 
 Mining costs vary depending on depth of deposit, 
 mining method, and other factors. For the underground 
 mines, average costs ranged from $3.20/ton to mine the 
 low-grade ores from the Philippine mines (average grade: 
 0.47 pet Cu) to $29.70/ton for the high-grade Zairian ores 
 (average: 3.90 pet Cu). 
 
 The four underground Chilean mines, which accoimt for 
 23 pet of the annual capacity of producing underground 
 mines in market economy countries, had average costs of 
 $4.30/ton for mining and $2.20/ton for milling. The 
 average ore grade for these mines is 1 pet Cu. Mining and 
 milling costs for the seven U.S. producing underground 
 mines, which account for 13 pet of underground mine 
 capacity, were about 35 pet greater than foreign mines. 
 The six Zambian underground mines, which account for 
 16 pet of the annual capacity of producing underground 
 mines in market economy countries, had an average 
 mining and milling cost of $23.10/ton: $15.50/ton for 
 mining and $7.60/ton for milling. The four Zairian mines 
 had extremely high costs, averaging $41.20/ton for mining 
 and milling combined. Milling costs in Zaire are extreme- 
 ly high, $11.40/ton, due to the additional processing 
 required to recover byproducts. Although costs in Zambia 
 
 and Zaire are high in dollars per ton of ore, average costs 
 per pound of refined copper are low because of high ore 
 grades, as explained in the following section. 
 
 TOTAL PRODUCTION COSTS 
 
 Table 14 shows weighted average surface and under- 
 ground operating costs for producing mines in dollars per 
 pound of refined copper produced. Mines having combined 
 surface and underground operations or leach operations 
 only are not included. Revenues from coproduet and 
 byproduct commodities were computed and subtracted 
 from total operating cost to arrive at net cost. The net 
 costs shown — the average out-of-pocket costs for produc- 
 ing mines in each country — include all operating costs 
 required to produce refined copper and any credits for 
 byproduct production. Net cost is the average cost of 
 production for each country not including recovery of 
 capital or profits. It reflects the average copper price at 
 which the mines in the country would "break even," or 
 cover all production costs. A company may be willing to 
 operate at this price temporarily if it believes the 
 situation will improve in the near future. However, if the 
 company's outlook is bleak, it may temporarily shut down 
 or permanently close the mine and shift its investment to 
 a more profitable venture. An exception to this is that 
 State-owned or State-controlled mines may continue to 
 produce at or below the break-even price if the resulting 
 losses are expected to be less than those that would be 
 
 38 
 19 
 
 .26 
 .30 
 
 .24 
 .28 
 
 .28 
 .38 
 
 .77 
 .96 
 
 .13 
 .05 
 
 .21 
 .16 
 
 .69 
 .86 
 
 .88 
 1.02 
 
 57 
 
 .27 
 
 .25 
 
 .31 
 
 .83 
 
 .11 
 
 .20 
 
 .74 
 
 .91 
 
 Table 14. — Estimated production costs for producing copper mines,' per pound of refined copper 
 
 Type of operation Number of ... „ „„^, ,..,, „„^,2 Smelter- ^°'?.' to.=o6 Byproduct ..„, „„„,7 Total cost,^'°' 
 
 and country mines Mme cost Mill cost^ refinery cost= °P^^^^'S^ ^^^^ credits Net cosf FOB refinery 
 
 Surface: 
 
 Canada 10 $0.42 $0.44 $0.27 $1.13 $0.03 $0.29 $0.87 $1.04 
 
 Cfiile 3 .28 .15 .26 .69 .10 .19 .60 .76 
 
 Peru 4 .23 .28 .31 .82 .12 .06 .88 1.12 
 
 Pfiilippines 6 .33 .36 .27 .96 .09 .14 .91 1.04 
 
 Zaire 3 .19 .11 .30 .60 .22 .12 .70 .79 
 
 aher countries 12 .24 .30 .27 .81 .14 .34 .61 .81 
 
 Total or average, foreign 
 
 countries^ 
 
 United States 
 
 Total or average, all 
 countries^ 
 
 Underground: 
 
 Australia 4 .22 .12 .39 .73 .08 .09 .73 .89 
 
 Canada 10 .32 .14 .83 1 .29 .07 .92 .44 .61 
 
 Chile 4 .36 .19 .20 .75 .04 .06 .72 .79 
 
 Philippines 5 .41 .33 .28 1.02 .10 .40 .72 .85 
 
 Zaire 3 .42 .16 .38 .97 .24 .15 1.05 1.14 
 
 Zambia 6 .41 .20 .27 .87 .17 .03 1.01 1.09 
 
 Other countries 20 .57 .24 .58 1.38 .i2 .88 .63 .92 
 
 Total or average, foreign 
 
 countries^ 52 .38 .19 .32 .88 .09 .21 .77 .88 
 
 United States 5 .54 .31 .35 1.20 .07 .10 1.18 1.28 
 
 Total or average, all 
 
 countries^ 57 .40 .20 .32 .92 .09 .19 .82 .93 
 
 Grand total or average:^ 
 
 Foreign countries 90 .31 .22 .30 .82 .11 .21 .73 .87 
 
 United States 24 .35 .29 .37 1.01 .05 .15 .92 1.07 
 
 All countries 114 .32 .23 .32 .87 .10 .20 .77 .92 
 
 ' Does not include mines having combined surface and underground operations. Average ore grade and annual refined copper production in table 13. 
 ^ Does not include mines having leach facilities only. Mines having combined float and leach operations are included. 
 
 ' Includes smelting and refining charges, transportation costs to the smelter and refinery (but not to market), and postmill processing charges for other 
 (noncopper) commodities. 
 ■* Summation of mine, mill, and smelter-refinery costs. 
 * Data may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding. 
 ' Includes property, severance, State, and Federal taxes and royalties. 
 ' Total operating cost plus taxes less byproduct credits. 
 ' Net cost plus recovery of capital and p'ofil at a 15-pct ROR. 
 ' Transportation charges from the refinery to the market are not included. These costs are estimated in table 15. 
 
19 
 
 incurred if the mine were closed. (If the mine were closed, 
 the government might have to pay unemployment and 
 other welfare benefits or incur other costs. Also, the 
 governments may need the sales revenues generated by 
 the mine to import other needed materials into the 
 country.) 
 
 In this study, the difference between net cost and total 
 cost is that total cost includes recovery of capital and a 
 profit on all investments at a 15-pct ROR, FOB (free on 
 board) refinery. For some countries, there is no great 
 difference in these costs because most of the mines have 
 been producing for many years and a large portion of the 
 capital has been written off. For other countries, the 
 difference is significant because new mines have recently 
 begun production and large amounts of capital have yet to 
 be wnritten off. For some operations, there may be 
 signific£int transportation charges to ship the copper to the 
 market. 
 
 There are many reasons for the differences in the 
 average country costs shown in table 14. Although this 
 report does not provide detailed explanations for all these 
 differences, some country comparisons are presented 
 below, and some of the reasons for variations in costs are 
 discussed. 
 
 Mining 
 
 The weighted average mining cost for the 57 surface 
 mines producing at the time of the study was $0.27 per 
 pound of refined copper; surface mine costs ranged from a 
 low in Zaire of $0.19/lb to a high of $0.42/lb in Canada. (In 
 this section, all costs per pound are costs per pound of 
 refined copper.) For the surface mines, the cost differences 
 from country to country were due largely to variances in 
 stripping ratios, mining methods, productivity, and 
 average copper ore graides. The average grade for all 
 producing surface mines is 0.75 pet Cu, ranging from 4.05 
 pet Cu in Zaire to 0.38 pet Cu in Canada (table 13). Chile 
 and the United States, which account for nearly half of the 
 production capacity of the producing market economy 
 surface mines studied, had average mine operating costs 
 of $0.28/lb and $0.30/lb, respectively. 
 
 Underground mining costs, ranging from $0.22/lb for 
 Australian mines to $0.54/lb for U.S. mines, averaged 
 $0.40/lb, or $0.13/lb more than the average cost for surface 
 mines. The wide variance in costs again reflected 
 differences in average ore grades, mining methods, and 
 characteristics of individual ore bodies. U.S. underground 
 mines have an average ore grade of only 0.88 pet Cu, 
 compared with an average grade of 1.34 pet Cu for all 
 other market economy countries. Largely because of this 
 low grade, the mining cost per pound of refined copper for 
 U.S. underground mines averaged $0.16 higher than that 
 of xmderground mines in all other countries. 
 
 Milling 
 
 Milling costs for copper from surface mines ranged from 
 $0.11Ab for the 3 high-grade Zairian mines to $0.44/lb for 
 the 10 low-grade Canadian mines and averaged $0.25/lb 
 for all surface mines. The average cost of milling from 
 underground mines was $0.20/lb, or $0.05/lb less than the 
 average surface mine milling cost. As mentioned earlier, 
 milling costs per ton of ore are about equal for surface and 
 underground mines. However, when milling cost is 
 converted to dollars per pound of refined copper, the cost is 
 
 lower for underground mines than for surface mines 
 because of the much higher average ore grade of 
 underground mines. 
 
 Smelting, Refining, and Miscellaneous 
 
 Smelting and refining costs include transportation 
 charges to the smelter and refinery and postmill process- 
 ing charges for other (noncopper) commodities. These 
 costs averaged $0.37/lb for U.S. mines, $0.07/lb higher 
 than the average cost in foreign countries. Costs in most 
 foreign countries ranged from $0.20/lb to $0.39Ab and 
 averaged $0.30/lb. Because of additional costs for process- 
 ing coproducts and b3T)roducts from underground mines in 
 Canada and Zaire, costs in these countries were high, 
 averaging $0.83/lb and $0.38/lb, respectively. 
 
 Smelting and refining costs for concentrates originating 
 from mines in the Philippines and surface mines in 
 Canada are low because most of these concentrates are 
 processed in Japan. Custom smelters and refineries 
 typically purchase copper concentrates at prices based on 
 London Metal Exchange (LME) copper prices minus a 
 charge to cover processing charges and profit. However, 
 Japan has its own pricing system which allows Japanese 
 smelters to sell copper within Japan at a premium over 
 the LME price. This premium price, which amounts to a 
 subsidy paid by Japanese consumers, allows smelters to 
 purchase concentrates at the LME price and sell refined 
 copper at their higher internal producer price. As a result, 
 Japanese smelters can offer lower smelting and refinery 
 charges, thereby attracting more concentrates, and 
 recover the added cost when the copper is sold at the 
 premium price (30). Therefore, although U.S. smelting 
 and refining costs are probably competitive with those in 
 Japan, the U.S. smelting industry is not able to compete 
 with Japan's because of the pricing system imposed by the 
 Japanese Government. 
 
 Total Operating Cost 
 
 The total operating cost (mine, mill, smelter, and 
 refinery) for producing surface mines was estimated to be 
 $0.83Ab. Zaire had the lowest total operating cost, 
 $0.60/lb, whereas Canada had the highest, $1.13/lb. Costs 
 for underground mines were slightly higher, averaging 
 $0.92/lb and ranging from $0.73/lb in Australia to $1.29/lb 
 in Canada. 
 
 Taxes 
 
 Taxes, including property, severance, state, and federal 
 assessments, averaged $0.10/lb. Taxes in some countries 
 were insignificant ($0.03/lb for surface mines in Canada), 
 while in other countries they added greatly to the cost of 
 production ($0.17/lb in Zambia and $0.24/lb in Zaire for 
 underground mines). For producing mines as a whole, 
 state and federal taxes comprised 53 pet of total taxes, 
 severance taxes accounted for 26 pet, property taxes 
 accounted for 6 pet, and royalties accounted for 15 pet. 
 
 Byproduct Revenues 
 
 In recent years, bjrproduct revenues have been very 
 important to the economic viability of the copper mining 
 industry. (As will be shown later in this report, changes in 
 byproduct prices can greatly affect the profitability of a 
 
20 
 
 mine.) Since the total operating cost for producing copper 
 mines (in average 1981 dollars) exceeded the 1981 copper 
 selling price, byproduct revenues were essential for 
 continued mine production. Byproduct prices used in this 
 analysis are shown in table 12. Byproduct credits for 
 producing mines averaged $0.20/lb: $0.20/lb for surface 
 mines and $0.19/lb for underground mines. Credits ranged 
 from a low of $0.03/lb for underground mines in Zambia to 
 $0.92/lb for underground mines in Canada. Major b3T)rod- 
 ucts and coproducts for Canadian mines are gold, lead, 
 molybdenum, zinc, and silver. Byproduct credits for the 
 Chilean mines averaged $0.19/lb for surface mines and 
 $0.06/lb for underground mines and were primarily from 
 gold and molybdenum production. Credits for U.S. mines 
 averaged $0.15/lb. 
 
 After credits for byproducts, net cost for all producing 
 mines averaged $0.77/lb. 
 
 Net and Total Cost 
 
 Net cost for producing surface mines averaged $0.74/lb. 
 Because of high-grade ore and good bjfproduct credits, 
 Chile's mines were the lowest cost siorface producers, 
 averaging only $0.60/lb. Zaire's mines are highly sensitive 
 to changes in b5fproduct prices; recent decreases in these 
 prices have increased net costs greatly to an average of 
 $0.70/lb. Net cost for surface mines in other countries 
 ranged from $0.86Ab in the U.S. to $0.91Ab in the 
 Philippines. 
 
 At the 1981 copper price of $0.85/lb, only 4 of the 19 U.S. 
 surface mines were able to cover production costs. This 
 explains why so many domestic mines had extended 
 holidays, reduced output, temporary closures, or shut- 
 downs. Recovery of capital and profit added an additional 
 estimated $0.17/lb to the production cost of surface mines 
 (with total cost computed at a 15-pct ROR). At the 1981 
 copper price, most surface mines in Chile and Zaire were 
 able to cover production costs and receive at least a 15-pct 
 ROR, but very few U.S. mines operated profitably. 
 
 Net cost for underground mines was estimated at 
 $0.82/lb or $0.08/lb higher than that for surface mines. 
 This indicates that although grades of ore from under- 
 ground mines are usually higher than those of ore from 
 surface mines, this difference does not totally offset the 
 higher costs of underground mining. For underground 
 
 mines, recovery of capital and profit add an estimated 
 additional average of $0.11/lb to the production cost. The 
 total cost at a 15-pct ROR is estimated to be $0.93/lb, 
 which is only $0.02/lb higher than the total cost for 
 surface mines. At the 1981 copper price of $0.85/lb, most 
 underground mines in Canada, Chile, and the Philippines, 
 were able to produce economically. In the United States, 
 however, none of the seven underground mines appeared 
 to be able to make a profit or even cover production costs. 
 
 Transportation Cost 
 
 Transportation charges for moving copper concentrates 
 to the smelter and refinery or for shipping refined copper 
 to the meirket often affect the ability of mines to compete 
 on the world market. Mines that are close to the smelter 
 and/or refinery or copper market enjoy a cost advantage 
 over more distant operations. 
 
 The costs shown on table 14 are FOB refinery; 
 •transportation charges to the smelter-refinery are in- 
 cluded in the "smelter-refinery cost." For producing 
 mines, these costs average only about $0.03/lb because 
 many smelters and refineries are located near the mines. 
 For mines that must ship concentrates great distances, 
 however, transportation costs are much larger. 
 
 Table 15 provides estimates of transportation charges 
 for concentrates and blister-refined copper. In 1982, U.S. 
 mines exported 148,000 tons of copper in concentrate (75 
 pet of U.S. exfwrts of concentrate) to Japan. The 
 transportation charge from a mine in Arizona to Japan is 
 estimated to be $80/ton concentrate. About 40 pet of the 
 charge would be for rail haulage to the port (San Diego), 
 25 pet for the terminal cheirge, and 35 pet for ocean 
 freight. Charges for Chile and Peru are generally lower 
 than the U.S., averaging $40 to $45 per ton, because the 
 mines are located nearer to the ports. 
 
 After copper has been processed to the refined stage, 
 additional costs are incurred to transport the copper to the 
 meirket. For Chile and Peru these costs etre small, 
 averaging $0.025Ab to $0.032Ab refined copper. For Zaire 
 and Zambia, however, these costs are much larger 
 averaging $0.063/lb to $0.07/lb. 
 
 In Zaire, most copper is presently railed from the copper 
 belt at Kolwezi 1,050 km to Luebo where it is loaded onto 
 river vessels and barged 700 km to Kinshasa. From 
 
 Table 15.— Estimated copper transportation costs for selected countries^ 
 
 From — 
 
 To— 
 
 Copper concentrates 
 
 Blister-refined copper 
 
 $/ton cone 
 
 C/lb copper 
 
 $/ton blister-refined 
 
 C/lb copper 
 
 45 
 
 7.3 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 40 
 
 6.5 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 60 
 
 2.7 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 55 
 
 2.5 
 
 35 
 
 5.7 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 30 
 
 4.9 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 40 
 
 6.5 
 
 70 
 
 3.2 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 65 
 
 2.9 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 55 
 
 2.5 
 
 25 
 
 4.0 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 30 
 
 4.9 
 
 65 
 
 2.9 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 55 
 
 2.5 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 85 
 
 3.9 
 
 80 
 
 13.0 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 155 
 
 7.0 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 145 
 
 6.6 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 150 
 
 6.8 
 
 NAp 
 
 NAp 
 
 140 
 
 6.3 
 
 Chile Germany, Fed, Rep. of 
 
 Japan 
 
 Northwestern Europe 
 
 United States 
 
 Mexico Germany, Fed. Rep. of 
 
 Japan 
 
 Peru Germany, Fed. Rep. of, Japan. 
 
 Northwestern Europe 
 
 United States 
 
 South Africa Germany, Fed. Rep. of 
 
 Japan 
 
 Northwestern Europe 
 
 United States 
 
 United States, 
 
 Arizona Japan 
 
 Zaire Japan 
 
 Northwestern Europe 
 
 Zambia Japan 
 
 Northwestern Europe 
 
 NAp Not applicable. 
 
 ' Costs are estimated: transportation costs are negotiated on an individual deposit basis and may vary considerably. 
 
21 
 
 Kinshasa it is loaded back onto trains and railed 365 km 
 to the port at Matadi. The total shipping charge from the 
 mine to Japan is estimated at $155/ton refined copper 
 ($0.07/lb). Other routes for export exist but at the present 
 time this is the most likely one. In 1981, about 500,000 
 tons of copper was shipped using this route. 
 
 At the present time, about 85 pet of Zambia's copper 
 production is transported by rail 680 km to the port at 
 Dar. The remaining 15 pet is railed 1,120 km to the South 
 African port of East London. The transportation cost from 
 the mine to Japan is estimated to be $150/ton refined 
 copper ($0.068/lb) while the cost to northwestern Europe 
 is about $140/ton ($0.063/lb). 
 
 These high transportation costs, combined with large 
 decreases in the price of byproduct cobalt, have made the 
 mines in Zaire and Zambia much less competitive in 
 recent years. As shown on table 14, costs for producing 
 mines in Zaire and Zambia average $0.90/lb and $1.09/lb, 
 respectively. Adding the transportation charges to market 
 of about $0.07/lb raises the cost in Zaire to about $0.97/lb 
 and Zambia to $1.16/lb, both well above the average 1981 
 copper price of $0.85/lb. 
 
 CAPITAL COSTS 
 
 Capital costs for exploration, acquisition, development, 
 mine and mill plant and equipment, and infrastructure 
 were calculated for all deposits. (For most deposits, capital 
 costs for smelting and refining were included in the 
 custom operating cost; these costs are not discussed in this 
 section.) Capital costs for developing and explored 
 deposits, by type and size of operation, are shown in table 
 16. The costs shown are averages for the deposits analyzed 
 (and are adjusted to 1981 U.S. dollars); actual costs may 
 vary greatly depending on deposit location, characteristics 
 of the ore body, and other factors. 
 
 Capital costs were analyzed for 70 developing and 
 explored surface deposits which had a weighted average 
 daily capacity of 22,800 tons of ore. Total capital costs for 
 these deposits averaged $5,800 per annual ton of copper. 
 Of this average, $1,000 was for exploration, acquisition, 
 and development; $1,200 was for mine plant and 
 equipment; $2,200 v;as for mill plant and equipment; and 
 $1,400 was for infrastructure. The exploration, acquisi- 
 tion, and development cost can be broken down further to 
 
 16 pet for exploration, 8 pet for acquisition, and 76 pet for 
 development. 
 
 Analyses indicated that a surface deposit capable of 
 producing 14,000 tons of copper per year (about 3,400 tons 
 of ore per day) would have a capital cost of about $60 
 million (not including smelter, refinery, or infrastructure 
 costs). A surface deposit that could produce nearly 20,000 
 tons of copper per year (7,000 tons of ore per day) would 
 cost slightly more than $82 million, while a deposit with 
 capacity of 30,000 tons of copper per year (17,000 tons of 
 ore per day) would cost $125 million. A large surface 
 deposit with a capacity of 75,000 tons copper per year 
 (about 38,000 tons of ore per day) would cost an estimated 
 $350 million. 
 
 Of the surface deposits, those with capacities greater 
 than 75,000 tons of ore per day had the lowest capital costs 
 per annual ton of copper. (However, because only three of 
 the deposits studied fell into this category they are not 
 included in table 16.) Capital costs for other surface 
 deposits ranged from $5,300 to $6,000 per annual ton. 
 Determining economies of scale is difficult because the 
 deposits in each category are scattered throughout the 
 world and have many differences in infrastructure and 
 deposit characteristics. Also, inflation and exchange rates 
 vary greatly among countries. 
 
 Thirty-seven underground deposits, with an average 
 capacity of 7,300 tons of ore per day, were also analyzed to 
 determine capital costs. Total capital costs for these 
 deposits averaged $5,200 per annual ton of copper: $1,100 
 for exploration, acquisition, and development; $1,400 for 
 mine plant and development; $2,000 for mill plant and 
 equipment; and $800 for infrastructure. Of the explora- 
 tion, acquisition, and development costs, 19 pet was for 
 exploration, 5 pet was for acquisition, and 76 pet was for 
 development. Costs ranged from $3,900 per annual ton for 
 deposits with capacities from 2,001 to 5,000 tons of ore per 
 day to $6,000 per annual ton for those with capacities of 
 more than 10,000 tons per day. 
 
 Total capital costs (not including smelter, refinery, or 
 infrastructure) for an underground deposit capable of 
 producing 16,000 tons of copper per year (3,000 tons of ore 
 per day) are estimated to be $45 million. An underground 
 deposit with an annual output of 30,000 tons of copper 
 (13,000 tons of ore per day) would cost about $200 million. 
 
 Differences in capital costs occur primarily in costs for 
 exploration, mill plant and equipment, and infrastruc- 
 
 Table 16.— Estimated capital costs for developing and explored copper deposits 
 
 Type and size of Number ,«^/h^ 
 
 operation, metric tons of .? ° °'^: 
 
 of ore per day deposits thousand 
 
 ^ ' vjopuoivo metric tons 
 
 Surface: 
 
 Less than 2,000 6 1 .4 
 
 2,001 to 5,000 8 3.6 
 
 5,001 to 10,000 8 7.4 
 
 10,001 to 25,000 26 18.7 
 
 25,001 to 50,000 16 38.1 
 
 Greater than 50,000 6 70.0 
 
 Total or average' 
 
 Underground: 
 
 Less than 2,000 
 
 2,001 to 5,000 
 
 5,001 to 10,000 
 
 Greater than 10,000 
 
 Total or average' 37 7.3 
 
 ' Data may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding 
 
 Cost per annual metric ton of refined copper 
 
 Exploration, 
 
 Mine plant 
 
 fVlill plant 
 
 
 
 acquisition, 
 
 and 
 
 and 
 
 Infrastructure 
 
 Total' 
 
 development 
 
 equipment 
 
 equipment 
 
 
 
 $2,300 
 
 $1,100 
 
 $1,300 
 
 $800 
 
 $5,500 
 
 1,000 
 
 900 
 
 2,400 
 
 900 
 
 5,300 
 
 1,200 
 
 1,100 
 
 1,900 
 
 1,100 
 
 5,300 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 2,200 
 
 1,500 
 
 5,600 
 
 1,100 
 
 1,400 
 
 2,200 
 
 1,400 
 
 6,000 
 
 900 
 
 1,100 
 
 2,400 
 
 1,600 
 
 6,000 
 
 70 
 
 22.8 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,200 
 
 2,200 
 
 1,400 
 
 5,800 
 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 1.4 
 
 2.9 
 
 6.4 
 
 22.8 
 
 700 
 
 600 
 
 800 
 
 1,600 
 
 1,500 
 
 900 
 
 1,200 
 
 1,400 
 
 1,200 
 1,300 
 1,700 
 2,700 
 
 1,700 
 1,100 
 1,000 
 '300 
 
 5,100 
 3,900 
 4,800 
 6,000 
 
 1,100 
 
 1,400 
 
 2,000 
 
 800 
 
 5,200 
 
22 
 
 ture. Economies of scale are not readily visible because of 
 the mixing of many types of underground mining 
 methods. As with surface deposits, underground deposits 
 
 are scattered throughout the world and have many 
 differences in infrastructure and deposit characteristics. 
 
 COPPER AVAILABILITY 
 
 Total availability of copper from market economy mines 
 and deposits is illustrated in figure 4. A total of 330 
 million tons of copper is potentially recoverable from the 
 deposits analyzed; however, a copper price exceeding 
 $3.50/lb would be required in order for all the deposits to 
 produce economically. In 1981, copper was selling for 
 about $0.85/lb. At that price, an estimated 88 million tons 
 could be economically mined and nearly all of the output 
 would be from mines that were producing at the time of 
 the study. If the price of copper were to increase to 
 $1.25/lb, the quantity of copper that would be economical- 
 ly recoverable could increase over 100 pet to 207 million 
 tons. At that price, nearly all the copper that could be 
 economically produced (90 pet) would be from mines that 
 were producing at the time of the study. 
 
 As shown in figure 4, several mines received such large 
 revenues from other commodities that no copper revenues 
 were required in order for them to produce economically 
 (with total cost equal to zero). These mines produce copper 
 as a byproduct of other metal production and are heavily 
 dependent on revenues from the other metals. 
 
 3.50 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 T ■ 
 
 1 
 
 3.00 
 
 
 dollars per pound 
 
 8 S 
 
 r 
 
 ■ J : 
 
 8 
 
 ^^^^..-'^ 
 
 ^ 1.00 
 
 r' ' 
 
 .50 
 
 1 I J 1 1 1 1 u , 
 
 40 80 120 160 200 240 280 320 360 
 
 TOTAL RECOVERABLE COPPER, million metric tons 
 
 Figure 4.— Total copper availability from mines and deposits. 
 (Costs are In average 1981 dollars and Include a 15-pct ROR.) 
 
 TOTAL AVAILABILITY FROM PRODUCING, 
 DEVELOPING, AND EXPLORED DEPOSITS 
 
 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 
 TOTAL RECOVERABLE COPPER, million metric tons 
 
 Figure 5. — Breakdown of total copper availability from 
 producing, developing, and explored deposits. (Costs are in 
 average 1981 dollars and include a 15-pct ROR.) 
 
 Table 17.— Copp er potentially available from produc ing, 
 deveroping, and explored deposits at selected 
 copper price ranges 
 
 (Thousand metric tons) 
 
 Totalcostperpound ^'^^ e^pTottg ^°'^'' 
 
 Under $0.75 81,400 280 81,680 
 
 $0.76 to $1.00 50,670 8,890 59,560 
 
 $1.01 to $1.25 51,180 14,360 65,540 
 
 $1.26 to $1.50 15,260 26,060 41,320 
 
 $1.51 to $1.75 6,780 23,190 29,970 
 
 $1.76 to $2.00 1,010 17,910 18,920 
 
 $2.01 to $3.00 50 23,530 23,580 
 
 Total' 206,350 114,220 320,570 
 
 ' Data may not add to totals shown because of Independent rounding. 
 
 were not included, the estimated cost of production 
 (break-even cost) for these mines dropped to $0.77/lb. 
 Production costs for developing deposits (including a 
 15-pct ROR) generally ranged from $l/lb to $2/lb, with an 
 average cost of $1.50/lb. Explored deposits had much 
 higher production costs; the average total cost for these 
 deposits was estimated to be $1.90/lb, or more than double 
 the 1981 copper selling price. 
 
 Of the total quantity of copper potentially recoverable 
 from the deposits analyzed, 63 pet was from mines that 
 were producing at the time of the study, 12 pet was from 
 deposits that were not producing but were under 
 development or were scheduled for development in the 
 near future, and 24 pet was from explored deposits with no 
 known development schedule or scheduled startup date. 
 Copper potentially available from producing mines and 
 nonproducing deposits is shown in figure 5 and table 17. 
 
 The average total cost of production for producing mines 
 (including a 15-pct ROR) was estimated to be $0.92 per 
 pound of copper, or about $0.07/lb more than the 1981 
 copper selling price. When recovery of capital and profit 
 
 TOTAL AVAILABILITY 
 BY REGION 
 
 Potential availability of copper from the six market 
 economy regions is shown in table 18. Similar data for the 
 four major regions. North America, Central and South 
 America, eastern Asia and Oceania, and Africa, are shown 
 in figure 6. Nearly 70 pet of market economy copper 
 resources occurs in North America or in Central and 
 South America. 
 
 The data in table 18 indicate that 82 million tons of 
 copper could be economically mined at a total cost of 
 
23 
 
 Table 18.— Copper potentially available by region at selected total production cost ranges 
 
 (Thousand metric tons of recoverable copper) 
 
 Total cost North Central and 
 
 per pound America South America 
 
 Less than $0.50 2,710 
 
 $0.51 to $0.75 1 0,730 51 ,250 
 
 $0.76 to $1 .00 9,430 14,450 
 
 $1 .01 to $1 .25 34,290 20,080 
 
 $1.26 to $1.50 19,660 8,040 
 
 $1 .76 to $2.00 19,350 19,690 
 
 $2.01 to $3.00 6,150 10,600 
 
 Greater than $3.00 2,150 
 
 Total' 104,470 124,100 
 
 ' Data may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding 
 
 Europe 
 
 Middle East 
 
 and 
 western Asia 
 
 Eastern Asia 
 and Oceania 
 
 Africa 
 
 Total' 
 
 3,230 
 
 130 
 
 830 
 
 270 
 
 7,170 
 
 2,330 
 
 460 
 
 3,870 
 
 5,880 
 
 74,510 
 
 1,750 
 
 780 
 
 7,440 
 
 25,720 
 
 59,560 
 
 90 
 
 
 
 8,070 
 
 3,020 
 
 65,540 
 
 2,650 
 
 5,900 
 
 1,330 
 
 3,740 
 
 41,330 
 
 270 
 
 1,320 
 
 5,190 
 
 3,070 
 
 48,890 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 3,800 
 
 2,960 
 
 23,570 
 
 240 
 
 1,020 
 
 4,820 
 
 660 
 
 8,880 
 
 10,550 
 
 9,660 
 
 45,330 
 
 329,450 
 
 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 
 
 TOTAL RECOVERABLE COPPER, million metric tons 
 
 Figure 6.— Total copper availability by major region. (Costs 
 are In average 1981 dollars and include a 15-pct ROR.) 
 
 $0.75/lb: At $l/lb, economic output could be expected to 
 increase to 141 million tons. At $l/lb, an estimated 47 pet 
 of the recoverable copper would be from Central and South 
 American deposits, 23 pet would be from Africa, 16 pet 
 would be from North America, and 9 pet would be from 
 eastern Asia and Oceania. 
 
 Thirty-two percent of the copper available from North 
 American deposits could be economically produced at a 
 cost of $l/lb or less, and nearly 55 pet could be 
 economically produced at $1.25/lb. From Central and 
 South American deposits, 53 pet of the copper would be 
 economically available at $l/lb, and nearly 70 pet would 
 be economically available at $1.25/lb. African mines, some 
 of which have extremely large revenues from b}rproduct 
 production, could economically produce over 70 pet of their 
 resource at a cost of $l/lb or less. At this same cost, 70 pet 
 of European resources could be economically mined, and 
 34 pet of the resources from eastern Asia and Oceania 
 would be available. Because costs for copper resources in 
 the Middle East and western Asia are much higher than 
 in other regions, only 14 pet of these resources could be 
 economically mined at a cost of $l/lb. 
 
 ANNUAL 
 AVAILABILITY 
 
 Estimated mine production capacities for the deposits 
 analyzed in this study are shown by country, in table 19. 
 The capacities shown are averages of annual production 
 over the lives of the deposits in each country. The 272 
 mines and deposits analyzed could produce 11.6 million 
 
 Table 19.— Estimated average annual copper mine capacity, by 
 region and country 
 
 (Thousand metric tons of recoverable copper) 
 
 Region and country 'tn"et^ eX°dTpo"s^s ™al' 
 
 North America: 
 
 Canada 600 480 1,080 
 
 Mexico 290 260 550 
 
 United States 1,590 1,100 2,700 
 
 Total' 2,470 1,840 4,320 
 
 Central and South America: 
 
 Brazil 70 70 
 
 Chile 1,380 670 2,050 
 
 Peru 350 450 800 
 
 Other 400 400 
 
 Total' 1,730 1,600 3,330 
 
 Europe 280 120 400 
 
 Middle East and western Asia 110 260 370 
 
 Eastern Asia and Oceania: 
 
 Australia 200 150 350 
 
 Philippines 400 190 590 
 
 Other 230 310 550 
 
 Total' 830 660 1,490 
 
 Zaire 610 80 700 
 
 Zambia 690 10 700 
 
 Other 240 90 320 
 
 Total' 1,540 180 1,720 
 
 Grand total (market 
 
 economy countries)' 6,960 4,660 1 1 ,620 
 
 ' Data may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding. 
 
 tons of copper per year; however, copper prices significant- 
 ly above the 1981 level of $0.85/lb would be required to 
 stimulate production. The 146 producing mines studied 
 were capable of producing 7.0 million tons of recoverable 
 copper per year. It has been estimated that 1980 
 production of primary refined copper from market 
 economy countries totaled 5.9 million tons, or about 85 pet 
 of estimated capacity (2). The 23 deposits under develop- 
 ment or scheduled to begin development in the near future 
 had the capacity to produce an additional 1.3 million tons. 
 Explored deposits could increase annual production 
 capacity by an estimated 3.4 million tons; however, since 
 none of these deposits had definite development plans, 
 most will not come into production in the near future. 
 
 Figure 7 shows potential annual copper production at 
 selected total production costs, from 1981 to 1995, for 
 producing mines and nonproducing deposits. At a cost of 
 $l/lb, nearly all output would be from mines that were 
 producing at the time of the study. At that cost, an 
 estimated 3.7 million tons of copper could be economically 
 produced each year, although it is estimated that 
 economic output would drop to 3.2 million tons by about 
 1995. Five deposits that were being developed could 
 economically produce at $l/lb; however, these deposits 
 
24 
 
 $0-1.00 
 
 $0-75 
 
 $0-.50 
 
 N+4 N+6 N+8 
 
 YEAR 
 
 N+IO N+12 N+14 
 
 Figure 7.— Potential annuai copper production from produc- 
 ing, developing, and explored deposits at selected production 
 costs. (Costs per pound are shown to the right in each graph 
 in average 1981 dollars and include a 15-pct ROR.) 
 
 had annual capacities sufficient to produce only an 
 additional 200,000 tons of copper. If copper prices remain 
 below $l/lb, analyses performed as part of this study 
 indicate that market economy mines cannot continue to 
 produce profitably at their 1978-1980 average annual 
 production rate of 6.1 million tons; annual production of 4 
 to 5 million tons is more likely. 
 
 The average total cost for producing mines (including a 
 15-pct ROR) was estimated to be $0.92 per pound of 
 copper; $1.07/lb for U.S. mines and $0.87/lb for other 
 market economy mines. Of the producing mines, 80 pet of 
 the U.S. mines and 50 pet of the other market economy 
 mines had a total production cost of more than $l/lb. 
 Because of low copper prices, many mines had curtailed 
 production or shut down (temporarily or permanently) in 
 an attempt to reduce losses. Other mines continued to 
 operate at a loss in anticipation of higher copper or 
 byproduct prices in the near future. If prices do not 
 increase, these mines may also reduce production or close. 
 
 Generally, developing and explored deposits have a 
 much higher production cost than do producing mines. 
 This is due in part to the higher investments that are 
 required and to generally lower ore grades. Developing 
 deposits had an average total cost of $1.50/lb. Therefore, 
 startup of the higher cost developing deposits will likely 
 be postponed or delayed until the projects are economical- 
 ly feasible. Explored deposit costs are even higher; 
 average total cost for these deposits were estimated to be 
 $1.90/lb. Because startup dates for many developing 
 
 deposits have been postponed due to economic conditions 
 and startup dates for explored deposits were not known, 
 construction of annual availability curves for them was 
 based on the assumption that preproduction would begin 
 in year "N." These curves indicate that several years 
 would be required from the year development begins 
 before any production could occur. Although an additional 
 4.7 million tons of copper could be produced annually from 
 these deposits, copper prices of more than $1.75/lb would 
 be required. Therefore, for most of these deposits, 
 production in the near future appearjsd unlikely. 
 
 Potential annual copper output for the four major 
 market economy regions, at selected production costs, is 
 shown in figure 8. At $l/lb, nearly all output would be 
 from mines that were producing at the time of the study. 
 At this price, the mines analyzed could economically 
 produce an estimated 3.7 million tons of copper, which is 
 much less than the estimated 5.9 million tons of refined 
 copper market economy mines produced in 1980. Analyses 
 performed as part of this study indicated that copper 
 prices from $1.25/lb to $1.50/lb would be required to meet 
 the 1980 production level of the market economy 
 countries. At higher copper prices, most production 
 potential would be from North and South America. 
 However, in order to operate profitably, nearly all of the 
 developing and explored deposits in North and South 
 America would require copper prices of more than 
 $1.25/lb. 
 
 U.S. AVAILABILITY 
 
 Copper production from U.S. mines in 1981 was 
 estimated at 1.5 million tons of contained copper; this 
 represented a nearly 30-pct increase over 1980 production 
 and was the largest production in 8 years. Mine 
 production for 1982 was estimated to drop to 1.1 million 
 tons. Reported U.S. copper consumption in 1981 was 
 estimated at 2.4 million tons. Reported consumption of 
 refined copper was 1.9 million tons. (An estimated 610,000 
 tons of copper scrap was recycled and converted to refined 
 metal and alloys.) The Bureau has forecast an average 
 annual U.S. growth rate for consumption of primary 
 copper of 2.4 pet (22). This rate of growth would result in a 
 1990 U.S. demand level of 2.5 million tons of refined 
 copper and a demand level of 3.2 million tons in the year 
 2000. 
 
 Total Production 
 
 The 72 U.S. mines and deposits analyzed contain an 
 estimated 83 million tons of copper, of which 80 pet is 
 recoverable with existing technology. Mines producing at 
 the time of the study, including those temporarily shut 
 down, accounted for nearly 65 pet of the recoverable 
 copper. Total copper availability from U.S. mines and 
 deposits is shown in figure 9 and table 20. At the 1981 
 copper price of $0.85/lb and at average 1981 costs and 
 byproduct prices, U.S. mines could economically produce 
 only 10 million tons of copper; at $l/lb, economic output 
 would increase to 14 million tons. In an earlier study, the 
 Bureau estimated that at January 1978 production costs 
 and byproduct prices, U.S. mines could economically 
 produce slightly more than 50 million tons of copper at a 
 total cost of $l/lb (21). This study, conducted only 3 years 
 later, estimates that as of 1981, costs had risen to $1.65/lb 
 
25 
 
 Central and South America 
 
 1993 1995 
 
 Figure 8.— Potential annual copper production by major region at selected production costs. (Costs per pound are shown to the 
 right In each graph In average 1981 dollars and include a 15-pct ROR.) 
 
 10 20 X) 40 » 60 
 
 TOTAL RECOVERABLE COPPER, million metric tons 
 
 Figure 9.— Total copper availability from U.S. mines and 
 deposits. (Costs are In average 1981 dollars and Include a 
 15-pct ROR.) 
 
 to produce the same quantity. More recent data presented 
 later in this section indicates that U.S. production costs 
 increased an additional $0.15/lb through June 1983. 
 
 The U.S. mines that were producing at the time of this 
 study had an average break-even production cost of $0.92 
 per poimd of copper (including operating costs, taxes, and 
 
 Table 20. — Copper potentially available from U.S. mines and 
 deposits at selected total production cost ranges 
 
 (Thousand metric tons) 
 
 Totalcostperpound ^'^^^^ ex°p1o7»A ^"'^'^ 
 
 Less than $0.75 1 0,200 300 1 0,500 
 
 $0.76 to $1.00 3,500 100 3,600 
 
 $1.01 to $1.25 15,400 2,000 17,400 
 
 $1.26 to $1.50 9,300 5,100 14,400 
 
 $1.51 to $1.75 2,900 6,400 9,300 
 
 $1.76 to $2.00 300 3,300 3,600 
 
 Greater than $2.00 7,400 7,400 
 
 TotaP 41 ,700 24,500 66,200 
 
 ' Only 2 deposits were in development at the time of this study. 
 
 ' Data may not add to totals shown tjecause of independent rounding. 
 
 miscelleuieous costs). Recovery of capital and profit at a 
 15-pct ROR added an additional average cost of $0.15/lb. 
 Results of this study indicate that at the 1981 copper price 
 of $0.85/lb, only one out of every six producing U.S. mines 
 would have received at least a 15-pct ROR. 
 
 Annual Production 
 
 The producing U.S. mines analyzed had a combined 
 capacity of about 1.7 million tons of refined copper per 
 year, but it was estimated that in 1981 these mines 
 operated at only 89 pet of capacity. Production in 1982 
 
26 
 
 dropped to an estimated 65 pet of capacity, due to 
 extremely low copper prices and demand. 
 
 Annual production capacities of U.S. mines producing 
 at the time of the study are shown in figure 10; capacity of 
 nonproducing deposits are shown in figure 11. At a total 
 cost of $l/lb, producing mines had the capacity to 
 economically produce about 500,000 tons of copper per 
 year. By 1995, capacity from these mines may drop to 
 about 375,000 ton/yr as some ore bodies become depleted. 
 Historically, however, domestic resources that can be 
 economically mined have increased annually because of 
 exploration and technologic improvements that facilitate 
 mining and processing of lower grade material or the 
 processing of material previously considered waste. With 
 improvements of this kind, actual annual capacities could 
 be higher than those shown in figures 10 and 11. At a total 
 cost of production of $1.25/lb, an estimated additional 
 700,000 to 750,000 tons of copper could be economically 
 mined by producing mines each year. 
 
 Although the annual production capacities of develop- 
 ing and explored U.S. deposits are large, production costs 
 
 01 1,800 
 
 I 
 
 .a i.eoo 
 
 3 1,200 — 
 
 3 
 
 '. 1,000- 
 800- 
 600- 
 
 liJ 
 
 I I 
 
 ■~~~^_$0-2.00 
 ~~~^.^ $0-1.25 
 
 fO-j.OO 
 $0-.7S 
 
 1987 1969 
 
 YEAR 
 
 Figure 10.— Potential annual copper production from produc- 
 ing U.S. mines. (Costs per pound are shown at right In average 
 1981 dollars and include a 15-pct ROR.) 
 
 1,200 
 
 N Year pfeproduction 
 development begins 
 
 $0-2.50 
 
 N+2 N+4 
 
 N+6 N+e N+K3 
 
 YEAR 
 
 Figure 11.— Potential annual copper production from de- 
 veloping and explored U.S. deposits. (Costs per pound are 
 shown at right in average 1981 dollars and Include a 15-pct 
 ROR.) 
 
 are much higher than those for producing mines, and 
 therefore copper prices above the 1981 price of $0.85/lb 
 would be required before these deposits could produce 
 economically. Only two U.S. deposits, the Troy, Mont., 
 property and the Copper Flat, N.M., property were 
 developing at the time of this study. These deposits began 
 full production in 1982 at a combined annual capacity of 
 about 30,000 tons of recoverable copper. Because of the 
 depressed condition of the copper industry, startup dates 
 for the 34 explored deposits were uncertain. As was done 
 previously (for the developing and explored deposits 
 availability curves in figure 7), annual availability curves 
 for these deposits were constructed (fig. 11) based on the 
 assumption that development of each deposit would begin 
 in year "N." As the curves show, a 4- to 6-year lag time is 
 required after startup (in year N) for development of the 
 deposit before full production can be reached. 
 
 Production costs for nonproducing U.S. deposits are 
 high. At a total cost of $1.25/lb, only 100,000 to 150,000 
 tons of copper per year could be economically produced. 
 However, production from these deposits could more than 
 double to 400,000 ton/yr at a cost of $1.50/lb and could 
 increase to over 600,000 ton/yr at $1.75/lb. Since these 
 production costs are much higher than current market 
 prices, it is doubtful that development would be consi- 
 dered for many of these deposits in the near future. 
 
 Due to a lack of foreign index and cost data, it was not 
 possible to show cost data or plot availability curves for 
 foreign deposits beyond 1981. However, because U.S. 
 index information was available, it was possible to update 
 the domestic deposit costs and availability curves to June 
 1983. Results of this analysis indicate that production 
 costs for U.S. mines and deposits increased about 10 pet 
 between mid-1981 and June 1983. Costs for mines 
 producing at the time of the study (including profit at a 
 15-pct ROR) increased $0.10 to $1.17 per pound of copper. 
 
 Figure 12 shows the shift in total production costs and 
 copper availability for producing domestic mines between 
 mid-1981 and June 1983. As shown, costs increased 
 significantly, from an average of $1.07/lb in mid-1981 to 
 $1.17/lb in June 1983. As a result of these cost increases, 
 the quantity of copper that could be economically mined at 
 a cost of $l/lb dropped from 13.8 million tons in 1981 to 9.9 
 million in 1983. Most of this $0.10/lb increase was due to 
 
 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 4S 
 
 TOTAL RECOVERABLE COPPER, million metric tons 
 
 Figure 12.— Total copper availability from producing U.S. 
 mines. (Costs are in average 1981 dollars and Include a 15-pct 
 ROR.) 
 
27 
 
 inflation. There were many changes in byproduct prices, 
 but it appeared that decreases in most byproduct prices 
 were small and were offset in part by slight increases in 
 other b5T)roduct prices. Any future increases in prices for 
 the major byproducts — gold, molybdenum, and silver — 
 would help offset the increased costs caused by inflation. 
 Analysis was also performed to determine the shift in 
 annual production costs between 1981 and 1983 for 
 domestic producing mines. Figure 13 shows production 
 cost and 1983 production potential at capacity levels for 
 domestic mines expected to be in production in 1983. 
 Included are 32 mines that were producing or temporarily 
 shut down at the time of this study. On the average, 
 production costs for these mines (including profit at a 
 15-pct ROR), increased $0.10 per pound of copper. As a 
 result, the amount of copper that could be economically 
 produced at a cost of $l/lb dropped about 30 pet, from 
 500,000 ton/yr to 350,000 ton/jrr. Producing mines were 
 projected to have the capability to produce 1.7 million tons 
 of copper in 1983; however, production costs (in June 1983 
 dollars and including a 15-pct ROR) would exceed 
 $1.50/lb. Again, increases in byproduct prices could 
 significantly lower total production costs. Unless current 
 market conditions greatly improve, it appears that in 
 
 1.60 
 
 i.so 
 
 1.40 
 1.30 
 1.20 
 1. 10 
 1.00 
 
 S- 1.20- 
 
 At June 1983 costs , ^ 
 
 and byproduct prices I 
 ,— ■J""'' 
 
 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 
 
 ANNUAL RECOVERABLE COPPER, thousand metric tons 
 
 Figure 13. — Potential annual capacity of producing U.S. 
 mines In 1983. (Costs Include a 15-pct ROR.) 
 
 future years the United States will have to rely more 
 heavily on imports of copper to meet demand. 
 
 FACTORS AFFECTING COPPER AVAILABILITY 
 
 Of the factors that have significantly affected copper 
 availability from market economy countries in recent 
 years, two major influences, inflation and byproduct 
 commodity prices, were analyzed to determine their 
 possible future impact on copper availability. The same 
 market economy deposits as were used in the previous 
 analyses (i.e., those identified in tables 5-10) were used for 
 the inflation and b5T)roduct price analyses. The results of 
 these analyses are discussed in the following two sections. 
 
 INFLATION 
 
 Infiation has greatly increased the cost of bringing new 
 mines into production. During recent years, annual 
 
 increases in capital costs of 10 to 20 pet have been 
 common. As a result, cost estimates for many developing 
 deposits have been revised upward, forcing delays or 
 suspension of projects. Combined with high interest rates 
 and low commodity prices, these high costs have led to a 
 scarcity of capital in the mining industry. 
 
 In order to assess the possible impact of continued 
 inflation on copper availability, the effects of 25- and 
 50-pct increases in capital costs on developing and 
 explored deposits were analyzed while all other param- 
 eters were held constant. Figure 14 illustrates the effect 
 of these increases. The analysis indicated that a 25-pct 
 increase in capital costs would raise the average total cost 
 for nonproducing deposits by $0.28/lb, from $1.82/lb (the 
 
 Bose (overage 1981 
 costs and byproduct 
 prices) 
 
 20 40 60 80 100 120 
 
 TOTAL RECOVERABLE COPPER, million metrictons 
 
 Figure 14. — impact of capital cost increases on copper 
 availability from developing and explored deposits. (Costs are 
 In average 1981 dollars and Include a 15-pct ROR.) 
 
 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 leO 200 220 
 TOTAL RECOVERABLE COPPER, million metric tons 
 
 Figure 15. — impact of 25-pct operating cost increase on 
 copper avaliabiiity from producing mines. (Costs are In average 
 1981 dollars and include a 15-pct ROR.) 
 
28 
 
 1981 average total cost) to $2.10/lb. (All costs and prices in 
 this section and the next are costs or prices per pound of 
 refined copper.) 
 
 As shown in figure 14, a 25-pct increase in capital cost 
 would lower the quantity of copper economically recover- 
 able at the average 1981 market price ($0.85/lb) by 7.1 
 million tons. At higher copper prices of $1.25/lb and 
 $1.50/lb, economically recoverable copper would decrease 
 by 11.3 and 17 million tons, respectively. 
 
 The impact of inflation on operating costs is even more 
 significant than it is on capital cost. As shown in figure 15, 
 a 25-pct increase in operating costs would cause the 
 availability curve for mines producing at the time of this 
 study to shift upward; the average total cost for these 
 mines would rise 23 pet, from $0.92/lb to $1.13/lb, a 
 $0.21/lb increase. Consequently, the amount of copper 
 that producing mines could economically produce would 
 decrease significantly. At $0.85/lb, the total would drop by 
 more than 60 pet, from 86 million tons to 39 million tons. 
 
 BYPRODUCT 
 COMMODITY PRICES 
 
 Revenues from byproduct prices may either offset or 
 magnify the effects of inflation. In early 1980, gold and 
 silver prices increased sharply, greatly improving the 
 profitability of the copper industry. These increases 
 caused a renewed interest in the industry, and many 
 companies planned to increase the capacities of existing 
 mines and develop new deposits. The price increases were 
 short-lived, however, and now many mines are not even 
 able to cover production costs. 
 
 Figure 16 shows the significant shifts in the total 
 availability curve that would result if b3T)roduct prices 
 were increased or decreased by 50 pet. For producing 
 mines, a 50-pct increase in byproduct prices would lower 
 
 40 80 120 ISO 200 240 280 320 
 
 TOTAL RECOVERABLE COPPER, million metric tons 
 
 Figure 16.— Impact of byproduct price changes on total 
 copper availability. (Costs are in average 1981 dollars and 
 include a 15-pct ROR.) 
 
 the average total cost by $0.08/lb, to $0.85/lb, whereas a 
 50-pct decrease would raise the cost by $0.10/lb, to 
 $1.03Ab. For nonproducing deposits, an increase in 
 byproduct prices would lower the average total cost by 
 $0.14/lb, to, $1.68/lb, whereas a decrease would raise the 
 average cost to $1.95Ab. 
 
 At a copper price of $0.85/lb, a 50-pct increase in 
 byproduct prices would make available an additional 19 
 million tons of copper, and a 50-pct byproduct price 
 decrease would reduce copper availability by 10 million 
 tons. At a copper price of $1.25/lb, the impact of byproduct 
 price changes would be greater; a 50-pct byproduct price 
 increase would make available an additional 12 million 
 tons of copper, whereas a 50-pct byproduct price decrease 
 would reduce copper availability by 21 million tons. 
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 
 
 The 272 mines and deposits the Bureau analyzed for 
 this study contain an estimated 413 million tons of copper, 
 of which 80 pet is recoverable using present mining and 
 processing technology. Of the copper potentially recover- 
 able from these mines and deposits, 63 pet is from mines 
 that were producing at the time of the study, and 37 pet is 
 from developing or explored deposits. 
 
 Forty-six percent of the copper potentially recoverable 
 from market economy countries occurs in Chile and the 
 United States, which have the world's largest copper 
 resources. At the average 1981 market price of $0.85 per 
 pound of copper, the market economy countries could 
 economically produce an estimated 88 million tons of 
 copper, which would be equal to about 27 pet of the copper 
 available from these countries. At a price of $l/lb (in 
 constant 1981 dollars), the quantity of copper that could 
 be economically produced would increase to 141 million 
 tons. At both these prices, nearly all output would be from 
 mines that were producing at the time of the study. 
 
 Copper mine production from market economy coun- 
 tries during 1981 was estimated at 6.2 million tons. At the 
 average 1981 copper price of $0.85/lb, analyses indicated 
 that producing operations could economically produce 
 (realizing a 15-pct ROR) only 2.1 million tons of copper per 
 
 year; therefore, many mines were operating at less them a 
 15-pct ROR. Analysis indicated that copper prices of 
 $1.25/lb to $1.50/lb would be required for the copper 
 industry to produce economically at the 1981 production 
 level. 
 
 The average total cost for producing mines (including 
 profit at a 15-pct ROR) was estimated to be $0.92 per 
 pound of copper: $1.07/lb for U.S. mines and $0.87/lb for 
 other market economy mines. An estimated 80 pet of U.S. 
 producing mines and 50 pet of other market economy 
 mines have a total cost (including profit) of greater than 
 $l/lb. Because of recent low copper prices, many mines 
 have curtailed production or shut down; unless market 
 prices increase, additional mines may follow suit. Total 
 cost was much higher for developing deposits, averaging 
 $1.50/lb. Startup of the higher cost developing deposits 
 will likely be postponed or delayed until market condi- 
 tions improve. Costs for nonproducing deposits averaged 
 $1.82/lb, which is more than double the January 1981 
 market price. Production from most of these deposits is 
 unlikely for many years. 
 
 Over the last 3 years, production costs for U.S. mines 
 have increased greatly. In a 1978 study, the Bureau 
 estimated that at a copper price of $l/lb, slightly more 
 
29 
 
 than 50 million tons of copper could be mined economical- 
 ly. This study indicates that a copper price of $1.65/lb is 
 now required for mines to produce this same amount 
 economically. The break-even production cost (including 
 operating costs, taxes, and miscellaneous costs but not 
 recovery of capital or profit) for the U.S. mines producing 
 at the time of this study was $0.92 per pound of copper; 
 recovery of capital and profit, at a 15-pct ROR, added an 
 additional $0.15/lb. At the January 198 1 price of $0.85Ab, 
 it was estimated that only one out of every six U.S. mines 
 was operating economically. 
 
 Capital costs per annual ton of refined copper were 
 estimated to be $5,800 (in 1981 dollars.) These costs 
 include exploration, acquisition, development, mine and 
 mill plant and equipment, and infrastructure but do not 
 include smelting and refinery costs. Analyses indicated 
 
 that inflationary impacts on capital and operating costs 
 have greatly affected deposit profitability, as have recent 
 shifts in b3rproduct commodity prices. 
 
 This study (based on 1981 data) confirmed that recent 
 copper and bs^product price levels imposed extreme 
 hardships on the copper industry of the market economy 
 countries. The situation was even more acute for U.S. 
 producers, whose production costs (in average 1981 
 dollars) averaged $1.07 per pound of copper, which was 
 $0.20/lb more than the costs encountered by producers in 
 other market economy countries. More recent data 
 (projections for June 1983) showed that cost escalations 
 have not abated. Unless market conditions greatly 
 improve, many additional mines in the United States and 
 around the world may be forced to close. 
 
 REFERENCES 
 
 1. Bennett, H. J., L. Moore, L. E. Welborn, and J. E. Toland. An 
 Economic Appraisal of the Supply of Copper From Primary 
 Domestic Sources. BuMines IC 8598, 1973, 156 pp. 
 
 2. Butterman, W. C. Copper. Ch. in BuMines Minerals 
 Yearbook 1980, v. 1, pp. 261-291. 
 
 3. Canadian Mining Journal. Cominco's Bethlehem Purchase 
 Paves Way for Valley Development. Nov. 1981, pp. 24-31. 
 
 4. Centromin Peru S.A. 1981 Annual Report, 55 pp. 
 
 5. Clement, G. K., Jr., R. L. Miller, P. A. Seibert, L. Avery, and 
 H. Bennett. Capital and Operating Cost Estimating System 
 Manual for Mining and Beneficiation of Metallic and Nonmetallic 
 Minerals Except Fossil Fuels in the United States and Canada. 
 (Also known as the STRAAM handbook.) BuMines Special Pub., 
 1980, 149 pp. 
 
 6. Cox, D. P., N. A. Wright, and G. J. Coakley. The Nature and 
 Use of Copper Reserve and Resource Data. U.S. Geol. Survey 
 Professional Paper 907F, 1981, p. FIG. 
 
 7. Davidoff, R. L. Supply Analysis Model (SAM): A Minerals 
 Availability System Methodology. BuMines IC 8820, 1979, 45 pp. 
 
 8. Engineering and Mining Journal. 1982 Survey of Mine and 
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 9. Brazil Takes First Steps on the Long Road to Copper 
 
 Self-Sufficiency. V. 182, No. 10, p. 57. 
 
 10. Cerro Colorado Project May Be Delayed by Costs 
 
 and Low Copper Price. V. 183, No. 2, p. 11. 
 
 11. Chile Sees Larger Role for Private Copper Mines to 
 
 Achieve Output Goals. V. 182, No. 10, p. 48. 
 
 12. Miami East Project May Utilize Dasco Mining 
 
 Machines in Stopes. V. 183, No. 3, pp. 35-39. 
 
 13. Peru Mounts New Campaign to Attract Foreign 
 
 Capital for Mine Development. V. 182, No. 7, pp. 35-37. 
 
 14. Production Begins at Asarco's Troy Project. V. 182, 
 
 No. 9, p. 55. 
 
 15. This Month in Mining. New Mexico section. V. 182, 
 
 No. 9, p. 258. 
 
 16. This Month in Mining. Papua New Guinea section. 
 
 V. 183, No. 2, p. 162, 
 
 17. This Month in Mining. Peru section. V. 182, No. 11, 
 
 p. 310. 
 
 18. 
 
 . This Month in Mining. Philippines section. V. 183, 
 
 No. 3, p. 222. 
 
 19. Everett, F. D., and H. J. Bennett. Evaluation of Domestic 
 Reserves and Potential Sources of Ores Containing Copper, Lead, 
 Zinc, and Associated Metals. BuMines IC 8235, 1967, 78 pp. 
 
 20. Mining Magazine. Gravity Surveys the Key at Neves- 
 Corvo, Portugal. V. 145, No. 5, p. 345. 
 
 21. New Mine in Bor Cu Field. V. 142, No. 4, p. 389. 
 
 22. Rosenkranz, R. D., R. L. Davidoff, J. F. Lemons, Jr. Copper 
 Availability — Domestic. A Minerals Availability System 
 Appraisal. BuMines IC 8809, 1979, 31 pp. 
 
 23. Schroeder, H. J. Copper. Ch. in BuMines Minerals 
 Yearbook 1971, v. 1 pp. 461-494. 
 
 24. Schroeder, H. J., and J. H. Jolly. Copper. Ch. in Minerals 
 Facts and Problems. BuMines Bull. 671, 1980, pp. 227-244. 
 
 25. Sousa, L. J. The U.S. Copper Industry — Problems, Issues, 
 and Outlook. BuMines Mineral Issues, 1981, 86 pp. 
 
 26. Stermole, F. J. Economic Evaluation and Investment 
 Decision Methods. Investment Evaluations Corp., Golden, Colo., 
 2d ed., 1974, 443 pp. 
 
 27. Tomimatsu, T. T. The U.S. Copper Mining Industry. A 
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 28. U.S. Bureau of Mines. Copper. Ch. in Mineral Commodity 
 Summaries, 1982, pp. 40-41. 
 
 29. U.S. Geological Survey. Principles of a Resource/Reserve 
 Classification for Minerals. U.S. Geol. Survey Circ. 831, 1980, 5 
 pp. 
 
 30. White, L. Why are Copper Concentrates Produced in 
 Arizona and Montana Being Smelted in Japan? Eng. and Min. J., 
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30 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Table A-1. — Deposits Investigated but not included In this study 
 
 Country and deposit name Comments 
 
 Country and deposit name Comments 
 
 NORTH AMERICA 
 
 MIDDLE EAST AND WESTERN ASIA 
 
 Canada: ' 
 Caritjoo Bell Raw prospect. 
 
 Cyprus: Limni Small resource. 
 
 India: 
 
 
 
 Gambler Island Raw prospect. 
 
 Kalyadi Small resource. 
 
 Rajpura-Dariba Lead-zinc mine. 
 
 Iran: Meiduk (Lacher) Small resource. 
 
 Saudi Arabia: Al Masane Raw prospect. 
 
 Turkey: 
 
 Asikoy Do. 
 
 Kure-Bakibaba Small resource. 
 
 
 
 Lyon Lake Do. 
 
 Mattabi Do. 
 
 Ming Small resource. 
 
 Morrison Raw prospect. 
 
 Nabs Do. 
 
 
 
 OK Do. 
 
 Red Group Do. 
 
 EASTERN ASIA AND OCEANIA 
 
 Spruce Point Small zinc-lead-silver deposit. 
 
 
 Sturgeon Lake Reserves depleted. 
 
 
 Sudbury (Inco) Nickel mines. 
 
 Burra Do 
 
 Sudbury (Falconbridge) Do. 
 
 Tasu Small resource. 
 
 Mount Dianne Do. 
 
 Mount Gunson Do 
 
 Thompson Nickel mine. 
 
 Mount Morgan Do 
 
 Whitehorse Copper Small resource. 
 
 Mexico: 
 Cumobabi Small mine. 
 
 Olympia Dam Resource estimation in progress. 
 
 Indonesia: 
 Timor Island Deposit unknown. 
 
 Inguaran Reserves depleted. 
 
 Sulawesi Raw prospect. 
 
 CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA 
 
 Akenobe Small resource. 
 
 Argentina: 
 Cerro Mercedario Raw prospect. 
 
 Fuoitobe Do. 
 
 Hanawa Do. 
 
 Shakanai Do. 
 
 Famatina Do. 
 
 Bolivia: 
 
 Chacarilla Small resource. 
 
 Corocoro Do. 
 
 Brazil: 
 
 Carajas Raw prospect. 
 
 Eloma Do. 
 
 Chile: 
 
 Carolina Michilla . . . Small resource. 
 
 
 Yanahara Pyrite deposit. 
 
 Papua New Guinea: Aerie Raw prospect. 
 
 Philippines: 
 
 Bagacay Raw prospect. 
 
 Balete Small resource. 
 
 Barlo Do. 
 
 Black Rock Do. 
 
 Cauayan Raw prospect. 
 
 
 Hercules Small resource. 
 
 Copaquire Molybdenum deposit, raw prospect. 
 
 El Indio Primarily a small gold-silver deposit. 
 
 La Africana Raw prospect. 
 
 Luna Raw prospect. 
 
 Omico Mining ... Small resource. 
 
 Polar Raw prospect. 
 
 Puntillas Do. 
 
 Sierra Gorda Do. 
 
 Colombia: 
 
 Regalian Small resource. 
 
 Vulcan Do. 
 
 Thailand: Phu Hin Lek Fai Raw prospect. 
 
 Panlanos— Pegadorcito Do. 
 
 AFRICA 
 
 Chaucha Do. 
 
 Loja District name. 
 
 Panama" Rio Pito Geochemical anomaly. 
 
 Angola: 
 
 Cachoeiras de Binga Raw prospect. 
 
 Namibia: 
 
 Peru: 
 
 Canariaco Raw prospect. 
 
 Chalcpbamba (Las Bambas) Do. 
 La Granja . ... Do. 
 
 Haib River Do. 
 
 Matchless Small resource. 
 
 Oamites Do. 
 
 Okahandja Do. 
 
 Pashpap Do. 
 
 Quechua Geochemical anomaly. 
 
 Onganca Do. 
 
 South Africa: 
 Bafokeng Platinum mine. 
 
 
 Foskor Phosphate mine at Palabora. 
 
 Marikana Platinum mine. 
 
 EUROPE 
 
 Rnland: 
 
 Hammaslahti Small resource. 
 
 Vihanti Zinc mine. 
 
 Virtasalmi Small resource. 
 
 France: Salisgne Do. 
 
 Greece: 
 
 Emonis Reserves depleted. 
 
 Kassandra Lead-zinc mine. 
 
 Rustenberg Do. 
 
 Zambia: 
 Bwana Mkubwa Small resource. 
 
 Chimiwungo Raw prospect. 
 
 Malundwe Do. 
 
 Mokambo Small resource. 
 
 Zimbabwe: 
 
 Empress Nickel mine. 
 
 Inyati Small resource. 
 
 United Kingdom: 
 
 Coed-Y-Brennin Raw prospect. 
 
 Yugoslavia* Kapaonik Do. 
 
 Norah Do. 
 
 Shackleton Do. 
 
 Shangani Nickel mine. 
 
 
 
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