Copper is a red metal with high electrical conductivity, which is very important for the manufacture of important products related to the electrification of the world's energy system. Copper is also used in heating, cooling, electronics, power generation and transmission, automotive applications, and has antibacterial properties.
The demand for green energy transformation triggered a rebound in the copper market. The top 10 largest copper mines in the world in 2020, compiled by MINING.COM and sister company MiningIntelligence, will play an important role in setting prices for the next decade.
Chile's Escondida is still the largest copper mine in the world, producing more than 1 million tons per year in the past two years and reaching 1.17 million tons in 2020. This is a routine open-air operation for the treatment of sulphide and oxide ores.
Escondida, located at 3050m above sea level in the arid northern Atacama Desert, was put into production at the end of 1990 and its production has been increased through gradual expansion in the following years. The copper mine is a joint venture between BHP Billiton (57.5%), Rio Tinto (30%), Nippon consortium (10%) and the International Finance Corporation (2.5%).
In second place is the Collahuasi copper mine, with an output of 629000 tons in 2020. The mine is also located in northern Chile, about 180km southeast of the port of (Iquique) in Iquique and 4400m above sea level. The deposit, located in a historic copper mining area, was discovered with high reserves after joint exploration by Shell, Chevron and Falconbridge in the late 1980s. It was put into production in April 1999 at a cost of US $1.76 billion.
According to the latest mining life, the service life of Collahuasi mines will be as long as 51 years from 2020 to 2070. It is jointly owned by Anglo American (44 per cent), Glencore (44 per cent) and Japan's Collahuasi Resources ((12 per cent).
In third place is Morenci, North America's largest copper producer in Greenley County, Arizona, with a capacity of 450000 tons in 2020. Morenci is an open-pit copper mine complex that has been operating continuously since 1939. The mine is majority-owned by Freeport-McMoRan (72 per cent), while Japan's Sumitomo (Sumitomo,15%) and Sumitomo Metal Mining (Sumitomo Metal Mining,13% hold the rest.
After Morenci, El Teniente, the world's largest underground copper mine, is located 80 kilometers south of Santiago in the Chilean Andes, with a production capacity of 443000 tons in 2020. The copper deposit was discovered in the early 19th century and has been in operation since 1905. The mine facility, owned and operated by Chilean state copper company Codelco, is undergoing an expansion project of US $3.4 billion to extend its production life by 50 years.
In fifth place is the Buenavista open-pit copper mine in Sonora, Mexico, which is owned by Southern Copper Corp., a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico. Wholly owned, with a production capacity of 432000 tons in 2020. Since its production in 1899, it is the oldest copper mine in North America and the most famous porphyry copper mine in the world.
Buenavista had previously been mined only underground until Anaconda began opencast mining in the early 1940s.
Ranked sixth to 10th are KGHM's copper mining group in Poland, Codelco's large Chuquicamata open-pit mine in Chile, the Cerro Verde and Antamina mines in Peru, and the Grasberg mine in Indonesia.
In addition, the Los Pelambres deposit managed by Antofagasta near Santiago, Chile, and the Polar Division mine held by Norilsk Nickel in Russia are rich copper mines.
