Top Copper Producing Countries

The following provides an overview of the top 10 copper producing countries, both on an absolute basis and on a per capita basis. The data source for the copper mining production data is the British Geological Survey. The data source for the population data is the GGDC/Maddison data set, the 2010 value was obtained extrapolating the 2008/2009 growth rate to 2010. Copper price was determined at USD 7'000 per ton.

Chile followed by Peru, China, United States and Indonesia are the leading copper production countries, no real surprises in the top 10 list.

On a per capita basis, Chile remains the undisputed top producer, the other countries making the top 5 are Zambia, Peru, Mongolia and Australia.

Once Ivanhoe's Oyu Tolgoi mine becomes operational, Mongolia's per capita copper production may become of the same magnitude (altough probably still somewhat lower) as Chile. More information about Oyu Tolgoi from Ivanhoe, the project site and Wikipedia.

Calculation details are here.