Copper mining technologies and its place in modern industry. Where to look for copper scrap Copper from ore at home

Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC) is one of the largest metallurgical holdings, which unites more than 40 enterprises from various industries. The basis of the company is a closed technological chain of copper production: from the extraction of raw materials to the production of finished products based on copper and its alloys. UMMC's share accounts for 43.4% of Russian copper (1.8% of the world volume). In addition, the company has a strong position in the zinc, lead and precious metals markets.

1. The head office of UMMC is located in the city of Verkhnyaya Pyshma, not far from Yekaterinburg.

2. The Uralelectromed plant, from which the creation of the holding began, is also located here.

Copper production begins with the extraction of raw materials. This is done by 9 enterprises of the company's mineral resources complex. Each of the deposits has its own characteristics - at one the copper content in the ore can be 1.5%, and at another - up to 2.5%.

3. Gaisky GOK (mining and processing plant)

The largest enterprise in the raw materials complex. Located in the city of Gai, Orenburg region. More than 70% of the region's copper reserves are concentrated here.

4. Ore is mined here both in an open pit and in an underground mine.

5. The maximum depth of the lower production horizons will be 1310 meters.

This is one of the few enterprises in Russia that mines copper at such a great depth.

6. Drilling tunnel complex.

7. Every year the enterprise mines about 8 million tons of ore and produces 550 thousand tons of copper concentrate (more than 90 thousand tons of copper).

8. All mined ores are processed at the plant's own processing plant.

To enrich ore, it is necessary to separate gangue minerals from valuable minerals, then separate copper and zinc minerals from each other, and, if necessary, lead, if its content in the ore is high enough.

9. At the beneficiation plant, concentrates are produced from the mined ore. Copper concentrate is sent to copper smelters, in particular to the Mednogorsk copper-sulfur plant and the Sredneuralsk copper smelter in Revda, and zinc concentrate is sent to the zinc plant in Chelyabinsk and Electrozinc in Vladikavkaz.

10. Northern copper-zinc mine of JSC Svyatogor. Located in the north of the Sverdlovsk region.

11. Copper-zinc ore is mined here, which, after processing at a crushing and sorting complex, is transported to the Svyatogora processing plant, located in the city of Krasnouralsk.

12. In March 2014, open pit mining of the Tarnier deposit was completed.
Now the company is developing the Shemurskoye field and is beginning to develop the Novo-Shemurskoye field.

13. Due to the inaccessibility of the mine, mining here is carried out on a rotational basis.

14. Uchalinsky GOK.

Located in the Republic of Bashkortostan. The company is the largest producer of zinc concentrate in Russia.

15. Sibay branch of Uchalinsky GOK.

The Sibaysky quarry is the deepest quarry in Russia and the second deepest in the world. Its depth was 504 meters and its diameter was more than two kilometers.

16. Now the main production is carried out using the shaft method.

17. For safety, the mine uses remote control of the LDM (Loading and Hauling Machine).

18. Copper and zinc concentrates produced at the Uchalinsky GOK are subsequently supplied to the Sredneuralsky Copper Smelter, Svyatogor, Electrozinc, and the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant.

19. "Bashkir copper".

The company develops the Yubileinoye deposit and specializes in the extraction and processing of copper ores. Copper concentrate is sent to the Sredneuralsk Copper Smelter, and zinc concentrate is sent to the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant.

20. Currently, open-pit mining of the Yubileinoye deposit is being completed; in connection with this, the company is constructing an underground mine.

21. The reserves of the underground mine are estimated by experts at about 100 million tons, which will provide the enterprise with work for more than 30 years.

22. The Khaibullinsky concentrating plant has modern equipment from Japan, Australia, South Africa, Italy, Finland and Germany.

Enrichment makes it possible to obtain copper concentrate with a copper content of up to 20%, which is almost 13 times higher than in ore. The degree of zinc enrichment is even higher - 35 times or more, while the mass fraction of zinc in the zinc concentrate reaches 50-52%.

23. Buribayevsky GOK.

The plant is engaged in the extraction and enrichment of copper ore, which is sent to the Mednogorsk copper and sulfur plant. In July 2015, the Yuzhny shaft with a depth of 492 meters was launched at the mining and processing plant with the release of the first car of rock mass. The first ore in the shaft will be mined in mid-2016. The construction of a new facility will increase the design life of the enterprise until 2030.

24. "Safyanovskaya copper".

The company is developing the Safyanovskoye copper-pyrite deposit, which is located in the Sverdlovsk region and accounts for about 3% of the all-Russian production of copper-containing ores.

25. Over the entire period of operation of the quarry, 17.8 million tons of ore were mined and more than 39.7 million m3 of stripping operations were performed.

Today its depth is 185 meters (in the future it will increase to 265 meters).

26. Now the open-pit mining of the Safyanovskoye deposit is being completed, and the enterprise is moving on to underground ore mining.

27. In December 2014, the first start-up complex of the underground mine was put into operation and the first tons of ore were obtained.

28. It is expected that ore mining from the deep horizons of the Safyanovskoye deposit will last at least 25 years.

29. The mined ore is sent for further processing to the Svyatogor processing plant, a metallurgical enterprise located in the Sverdlovsk region.

30. Urup Mining and Processing Plant.

It mines and enriches copper pyrite ore in the foothills of the North Caucasus.

31. Currently, ore is mined at a depth of 523 meters.

32. The main product of the enterprise is copper concentrate; in addition to copper, gold and silver are extracted.

33. "Siberia-Polymetals".

The company is located in the city of Rubtsovsk, Altai Territory. The main products are copper and zinc concentrates, which are supplied to the Sredneuralsk Copper Smelter and the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant.

34. Siberia-Polymetals was created in 1998 with the goal of reviving the mining of polymetallic ores in the Altai Territory.

36. The presence of the Rubtsovskaya and Zarechenskaya processing plants within the enterprise allows us to have a complete technological cycle for processing the mined ore.

Production of blister copper.

Blister copper is obtained by smelting copper concentrate and separating slag. The metal content in blister copper is 98-99%.

37. OJSC "Svyatogor"

A full technological cycle enterprise for the production of blister copper, located in the Sverdlovsk region. Copper and copper-zinc ores from the Northern Group deposits are processed at a processing plant, which produces 3 types of concentrate - copper, iron and zinc. Copper concentrate is supplied for further processing to its own metallurgical production, zinc concentrate is supplied to the Electrozinc plant and the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant, and iron concentrate is shipped to ferrous metallurgy enterprises.

38. The main production site of Svyatogor is the metallurgical workshop. From here, blister copper is sent for further processing to Uralelectromed.

39. Mednogorsk copper-sulfur plant.

The city-forming enterprise of the city of Mednogorsk in the Orenburg region, specializing in the production of blister copper.

40. MMSC's production facilities include a copper smelting shop, a briquette factory, a sulfuric acid shop, a dust processing shop, as well as a number of auxiliary departments.

42. Over its 75-year history, the enterprise has produced over 1.5 million tons of blister copper.

43. Sredneuralsk Copper Smelter (SUMZ)

The largest blister copper production enterprise within UMMC, located in the city of Revda (Sverdlovsk region). The enterprise's capacity is designed to produce about 150 thousand tons of blister copper, which is then sent for further processing to Uralelectromed.

44. The founding date of the plant is June 25, 1940. To date, SUMZ has already smelted more than 6 million tons of blister copper.

45. After the completion of large-scale reconstruction, the recovery rate of waste gases, including converter gases, reached 99.7%. Consumers of SUMZ products are the largest metallurgical, chemical, mining and processing enterprises in Russia, near and far abroad.

46. "Electrozinc".

One of the oldest enterprises in North Ossetia, located in the city of Vladikavkaz.

47. The founding date of the plant is considered to be November 4, 1904, when the first metallic Russian zinc was produced at the enterprise.

48. The main products of the enterprise are refined (containing 99.9%) zinc, as well as lead, which is obtained from copper smelting waste.

Blister copper is always subjected to refining in order to remove impurities, as well as extract gold, silver, etc. Purification is carried out by fire and electrolytic refining.

49. "Uralelektromed".

The head enterprise of UMMC is located in the city of Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk region.

50. Every year the enterprise produces over 380 thousand tons of refined copper - the most in Russia!

52. The company supplies its products to partners from 15 countries in Europe, North and South America, and Southeast Asia.

53. In addition to copper, the company produces gold and silver. Uralelectromed became the world's first copper enterprise included in the Good Delivery list of recognized global producers of precious metals by the London Precious Metals Market Association.

54. Gold is produced using hydrochemical technology by dissolving gold products in “aqua regia” (a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acid) and subsequent precipitation from solutions. When the resulting sediment is melted down, gold bars are obtained.

55. Branch "Production of polymetals" of OJSC "Uralelectromed".

Located in the city of Kirovgrad, Sverdlovsk region. The company specializes in the production of blister copper and zinc oxide.

56. The main consumers are OJSC Uralelectromed (blister copper) and OJSC Electrozinc (zinc oxide).

Metalworking.

To manage non-ferrous metals processing enterprises, UMMC-OTsM was created. Their products are used in the automotive, mechanical and electrical engineering industries.

57. Kirov non-ferrous metals processing plant (OTsM).

58. Production is organized according to the principle of a closed metallurgical cycle from casting to the production of flat and round products. The company exports rolled products to the USA, Western Europe, Southeast Asia and neighboring countries.

59. Sochi Olympic coins and Indian rupees were made from the coin tape of the Kirov OCM plant. The thickness of the thinnest foil produced at the enterprise is 25 microns. Which is three times thinner than a human hair.

60. Kolchuginsky OCM plant.

Located in the Vladimir region, it produces more than 20 thousand standard sizes of products in the form of pipes, rods and profiles from 72 grades of alloys.

61. In terms of the variety of finished products, the company is the only universal manufacturer of rolled products in the CIS.

62. The Kolchuginsky plant also produces the famous cup holders that each of us has encountered on long-distance trains.

63. Copper pipe factory.

Located near the town of Majdanpek in the Republic of Serbia. Specializes in the production of copper pipes for water supply, heating, cooling and air conditioning systems.

64. The plant exports more than 80% of its products. Copper pipes are represented on the markets of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Canada, Holland, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Ukraine, Israel and the countries of the former Yugoslavia.

65. "Orenburg radiator".

The plant is rightfully one of the leaders among enterprises producing products for mechanical engineering. Among the consumers of Orenburg Radiator are over 20 Russian factories, as well as foreign enterprises from the USA, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Many thanks to the UMMC Public Relations Department, namely,
Belimov Viktor Nikolaevich, Melchakov Oleg Andreevich and Voloshina Ekaterina Sergeevna for the excellent organization of photography!

The following may be present in minor concentrations:

nickel;
gold;
platinum;
silver.

Deposits all over the world have approximately the same set of chemical elements in the ore composition; they differ only in their percentages. To obtain pure metal, various industrial methods are used. Almost 90% of metallurgical enterprises use the same method for producing pure copper - pyrometallurgical.

The design of this process also makes it possible to obtain metal from recycled materials, which is a significant advantage for industry. Since the deposits belong to the group of non-renewable deposits, reserves decrease every year, ores become poorer, and their extraction and production becomes expensive. This ultimately affects the price of the metal on the international market. In addition to the pyrometallurgical method, there are other methods:

hydrometallurgical;
fire refining method.

Stages of pyrometallurgical copper production

Industrial copper production using the pyrometallurgical method has advantages over other methods:

the technology provides high productivity - it can be used to produce metal from rocks in which the copper content is even lower than 0.5%;
allows you to efficiently process secondary raw materials;
a high degree of mechanization and automation of all stages has been achieved;
its use significantly reduces emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere;
The method is economical and effective.

Enrichment

Ore beneficiation scheme

At the first stage of production, it is necessary to prepare the ore, which is delivered to processing plants directly from the quarry or mine. Often there are large pieces of rock that must first be crushed.

This happens in huge crushing units. After crushing, a homogeneous mass is obtained, with a fraction of up to 150 mm. Pre-enrichment technology:

raw materials are poured into a large container and filled with water;
oxygen is then added under pressure to form foam;
metal particles stick to the bubbles and rise to the top, and waste rock settles at the bottom;
Next, the copper concentrate is sent for roasting.

Burning

This stage aims to reduce the sulfur content as much as possible. The ore mass is placed in a furnace, where the temperature is set to 700–800 o C. As a result of thermal exposure, the sulfur content is halved. Sulfur oxidizes and evaporates, and some of the impurities (iron and other metals) pass into an easily slag state, which will facilitate later smelting.

This stage can be omitted if the rock is rich and contains 25–35% copper after enrichment; it is used only for low-grade ores.

Melting for matte

The matte smelting technology makes it possible to obtain blister copper, which varies by grade: from MCh1 - the purest to MCh6 (contains up to 96% pure metal). During the smelting process, the raw material is immersed in a special furnace, in which the temperature rises to 1450 o C.

After the mass is melted, it is purged with compressed oxygen in converters. They have a horizontal appearance, and the blowing is carried out through a side hole. As a result of blowing, iron and sulfur sulfides are oxidized and converted into slag. Heat in the converter is generated due to the flow of hot mass; it does not heat up additionally. The temperature is 1300 o C.

At the output of the converter, a rough composition is obtained, which contains up to 0.04% iron and 0.1% sulfur, as well as up to 0.5% other metals:

tin;
antimony;
gold;
nickel;
silver

This rough metal is cast into ingots weighing up to 1200 kg. This is the so-called anode copper. Many manufacturers stop at this stage and sell such ingots. But since copper production is often accompanied by the extraction of precious metals contained in the ore, processing plants use the technology of refining the crude alloy. In this case, other metals are released and preserved.

Refining using copper cathode

The technology for producing refined copper is quite simple. Its principle is even used to clean copper coins from oxides at home. The production scheme looks like this:

the rough ingot is placed in a bath with electrolyte;
A solution with the following content is used as an electrolyte:
- copper sulfate – up to 200 g/l;
- sulfuric acid – 135–200 g/l;
- colloidal additives (thiourea, wood glue) – up to 60 g/l;
- water.
the electrolyte temperature should be up to 55 o C;
Plates of cathode copper are placed in the bath - thin sheets of pure metal;
electricity is connected. At this time, electrochemical dissolution of the metal occurs. Copper particles concentrate on the cathode plate, and other inclusions settle at the bottom and are called sludge.

In order for the process of obtaining refined copper to proceed faster, anode ingots should be no more than 360 kg.

The entire electrolysis process takes place within 20–28 days. During this period, the copper cathode is removed up to 3–4 times. The weight of the plates is up to 150 kg.

How it's done: copper mining

During the refining process, dendrites can form on cathode copper - growths that reduce the distance to the anode. As a result, the speed and efficiency of the reaction decreases. Therefore, when dendrites appear, they are immediately removed.

Hydrometallurgical copper production technology

This method is not widely used because it can result in the loss of precious metals contained in the copper ore.

Its use is justified when the rock is poor - it contains less than 0.3% of red metal.

How to obtain copper using the hydrometallurgical method?

First, the rock is crushed to a fine fraction. Then it is placed in an alkaline composition. The most commonly used solutions are sulfuric acid or ammonia. During the reaction, copper is replaced by iron.

Cementation of copper with iron

The solutions of copper salts remaining after leaching undergo further processing - cementation:

iron wire, sheets or other scraps are placed in the solution;
during a chemical reaction, iron displaces copper;
As a result, the metal is released in the form of a fine powder, in which the copper content reaches 70%. Further purification occurs by electrolysis using a cathode plate.

Fire refining technology for blister copper

This method of obtaining pure copper is used when the starting material is copper scrap.

The process takes place in special reverberatory furnaces, which are fired by coal or oil. The melted mass fills the bath, into which air is blown through iron pipes:

pipe diameter – up to 19 mm;
air pressure – up to 2.5 atm;
oven capacity – up to 250 kg.

During the refining process, copper raw materials are oxidized, sulfur burns out, then metals. Oxides do not dissolve in liquid copper, but float to the surface. To remove them, quartz is used, which is placed in the bath before the refining process begins and is placed along the walls.

If the scrap metal contains nickel, arsenic or antimony, the technology becomes more complicated. The percentage of nickel in refined copper can only be reduced to 0.35%. But if other components are present (arsenic and antimony), then nickel “mica” is formed, which dissolves in copper and cannot be removed.

Video: Copper ores of the Urals

The following may be present in minor concentrations:

nickel;
gold;
platinum;
silver.

hydrometallurgical;
fire refining method.

Stages of pyrometallurgical copper production

Industrial copper production using the pyrometallurgical method has advantages over other methods:

the technology provides high productivity - it can be used to produce metal from rocks in which the copper content is even lower than 0.5%;
allows you to efficiently process secondary raw materials;
a high degree of mechanization and automation of all stages has been achieved;
its use significantly reduces emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere;
The method is economical and effective.

Enrichment

Ore beneficiation scheme

This happens in huge crushing units. After crushing, a homogeneous mass is obtained, with a fraction of up to 150 mm. Pre-enrichment technology:

raw materials are poured into a large container and filled with water;
oxygen is then added under pressure to form foam;
metal particles stick to the bubbles and rise to the top, and waste rock settles at the bottom;
Next, the copper concentrate is sent for roasting.

Burning

This stage can be omitted if the rock is rich and contains 25–35% copper after enrichment; it is used only for low-grade ores.

Melting for matte

At the output of the converter, a rough composition is obtained, which contains up to 0.04% iron and 0.1% sulfur, as well as up to 0.5% other metals:

tin;
antimony;
gold;
nickel;
silver

Refining using copper cathode

The technology for producing refined copper is quite simple. Its principle is even used to clean copper coins from oxides at home. The production scheme looks like this:

the rough ingot is placed in a bath with electrolyte;
A solution with the following content is used as an electrolyte:
- copper sulfate – up to 200 g/l;
- sulfuric acid – 135–200 g/l;
- colloidal additives (thiourea, wood glue) – up to 60 g/l;
- water.
the electrolyte temperature should be up to 55 o C;
Plates of cathode copper are placed in the bath - thin sheets of pure metal;
electricity is connected. At this time, electrochemical dissolution of the metal occurs. Copper particles concentrate on the cathode plate, and other inclusions settle at the bottom and are called sludge.

In order for the process of obtaining refined copper to proceed faster, anode ingots should be no more than 360 kg.

The entire electrolysis process takes place within 20–28 days. During this period, the copper cathode is removed up to 3–4 times. The weight of the plates is up to 150 kg.

How it's done: copper mining

Hydrometallurgical copper production technology

This method is not widely used because it can result in the loss of precious metals contained in the copper ore.

Its use is justified when the rock is poor - it contains less than 0.3% of red metal.

How to obtain copper using the hydrometallurgical method?

Cementation of copper with iron

The solutions of copper salts remaining after leaching undergo further processing - cementation:

iron wire, sheets or other scraps are placed in the solution;
during a chemical reaction, iron displaces copper;
As a result, the metal is released in the form of a fine powder, in which the copper content reaches 70%. Further purification occurs by electrolysis using a cathode plate.

Fire refining technology for blister copper

This method of obtaining pure copper is used when the starting material is copper scrap.

The process takes place in special reverberatory furnaces, which are fired by coal or oil. The melted mass fills the bath, into which air is blown through iron pipes:

pipe diameter – up to 19 mm;
air pressure – up to 2.5 atm;
oven capacity – up to 250 kg.

Video: Copper ores of the Urals

Copper is a ductile metal of golden-pink color, which in its pure form is found in nature more often than nuggets of gold or silver. But copper is mainly mined from copper ores - natural mineral formations. Most copper is found in sulfide ores. In oxidation zones, copper is found in most silicates, carbonates and oxides. Copper is also found in sedimentary rocks: shales and cuprous sandstones.

Modern science knows more than 200 minerals containing copper. In industry, metal extracted from sulfates is most often used, including:

Chalcocite (79% copper);
Bornite (up to 65%);
Chalcopyrite, or copper pyrite (about 35%).

Copper is also contained in copper-nickel compounds. The most famous of them is cubanite (up to 45% copper). Of the oxidized ores, it is worth noting cuprite (88%), malachite (up to 58%), azurite (up to 56%). Sometimes there are deposits of native copper.

Characteristics and types of copper

Copper is one of the first metals that people began to use. The chemical symbol is Cu (cuprum). This metal has high thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, and electrical conductivity. Copper melts at low temperatures, is excellent for soldering, and the metal is easy to cut and process.

Some copper compounds can be toxic to humans. High levels of copper in water and food can cause liver and gallbladder diseases. Quarries left behind after copper mining become sources of toxins. For example, Berkeley Pit Lake, formed in the crater of a former copper mine, is considered the most toxic lake in the world. But the bactericidal properties of copper are disproportionately higher. It has been proven that copper helps fight influenza viruses and destroys staphylococci.

In industry, copper is rarely used in its pure form. The following alloys have found greater use:

Brass (an alloy of copper and zinc);
Bronze (with tin);
Babbitts (with lead);
Cupronickel (with nickel);
Dural (with aluminum);
Jewelry alloy (with gold).

Copper deposits and mining

The largest copper deposit in the world is located in Chile - the Esconida quarry. Huge deposits of native copper were discovered here.

Other large deposits:

Mines on the Keweenaw Peninsula (USA, Michigan);
Chuquicamata mine in Chile (up to 600 thousand tons per year);
Corocoro mine in Bolivia;
Gumishevsky mine (Middle Urals, Russia) - now depleted;
Valley of the Levikha River (Middle Urals, Russia);
Gabbro massif (Italy).

According to the US Geological Survey, the largest copper deposits belong to Chile. Next come the USA, Russia, Peru and Mexico.

Copper mining methods:

Open;
Hydrometallurgical - when copper is leached from the rock with a weak solution of sulfuric acid;
Pyrometallurgical - consists of several stages (concentration, roasting, smelting for matte, purging and refining).

Careful handling of copper ores

Copper ores are a non-renewable resource, and therefore their development requires careful treatment, both in mining methods and in industrial processing.

Industry is increasingly becoming more demanding of constant volumes of resources received, which leads to their gradual depletion. To do this, it is necessary to more carefully control the extraction of copper ores, along with other non-renewable resources such as oil, natural gas, and use them more carefully and rationally, both in industrial and domestic consumption.

Copper Applications

Copper is one of the most important non-ferrous metals, which has found application in almost all spheres of human activity.

Electrical industry (wires, wire);
Mechanical engineering (starter, power windows, radiators, coolers, bearings);
Shipbuilding (hull plating);
Construction (pipes, pipelines, roofing and facing materials, bathtubs, faucets, sinks);
In art (jewelry, statues, coinage);
In everyday life (air conditioners, microwave ovens, coins, food additives, musical instruments).

Interestingly, the Statue of Liberty is made of copper. Its construction required about 80 tons of metal. And in Nepal, copper is considered a sacred metal.

Copper occupies one of the key positions in the global industry. Due to its high thermal and electrical conductivity, it is widely used in electrical engineering, and its high mechanical strength and suitability for machining make it indispensable in pipe production for internal systems.

Copper mining in Russia brings very fruitful results. And the fact that the Russian raw material base consists of 40% copper-nickel sulfide deposits, and 19% sulfide deposits, gives Russia a significant advantage over other countries.

The importance of copper in the world

Features of copper

Copper was one of the first metals that human civilization recognized and began to use. Man invented its production before iron.

Copper is the second most consumed non-ferrous metal in the global economy after aluminum.

This metal got its name from the island of Cyprus.

What does it consist of? Its structure contains many crystals: nickel, zinc, molybdenum, gold, calcium, silver, lead, iron, cobalt and many others.

And its high electrical conductivity has made it a particularly valuable electrical material, from which windings of transformers and generators, power line wires, and internal electrical wiring are made.

Reference. Previously, up to half of all copper produced in the world was spent on electrical wires, but today more affordable aluminum serves these purposes. And copper itself is becoming the most scarce non-ferrous metal.

Copper alloys are also widely used - with zinc (brass), with tin or aluminum (bronze), etc.

Production

Copper ores are mined in 50 countries.

The main production capacities of copper mining enterprises are concentrated in South America. It is here that 41.2% of the world's copper ore is mined, 19.8% comes from Asian countries.

The situation in the production of refined copper looks different:

Tab. 2. Comparative characteristics of refined copper production volumes by region of the planet, thousand tons

	Copper ore	Refined copper

North America
South America

Source: website people.conomy.ru

According to the results for 2015, production of refined copper is concentrated in the Asian region (51.2%). South America, the leader in copper ore production, accounts for 14.9%. Here it is inferior even to Europe.

Almost 80% of all copper was produced from virgin raw materials, the remaining 20% was produced from copper scrap. Global copper production remains highly consolidated - a third of it (34.8%) in 2015 was accounted for by the top five producers, which includes:

Codelco (Chile).
Freeport-McMoRan (USA).
Glencore (Switzerland).
BHP Billiton (Australia).
Southern Copper (Mexico).

For reference. In 2014, Wood Mackenzie (Brook Hunt) published a forecast of global copper production for the period up to 2025.

Wood Mackenzie is a global energy, chemicals, renewables, metals and mining research group with an international reputation for providing comprehensive data, written analysis and advice. In 2015, the company was acquired by American analytics and analytics company Verisk Analytics (en.wikipedia.org).

Tab. 3. Forecast data for 2014-2025

	Thousand tons		Thousand tons

Source: Wood Mackenzie (Brook Hunt)

According to the company, global production in 2016 was 19.9 million tons, and its production reached 22.5 million.

Reserves

According to data for 2014, the territories of North and South America held almost 60% of all world reserves, more than half of which were recorded in Chile. And on a planetary scale, this country accounts for 34% of the deposits of this non-ferrous metal.

Rice. 2. Copper deposits in the world 2014
Source: website mining-prom.ru

The Russian Federation accounted for 5% of the world's proven copper reserves (after Chile, the USA, Peru and Australia, this is 5th place).

According to geologists, about 5 billion tons of copper ore reserves are located at the bottom of the oceans.

Copper industry in Russia

In the Urals and Western Siberia, no, no, and even the most ancient mines from the Stone Age are found. Our forefathers worked in them, extracting copper ores for the invaders, among other minerals.

Although, according to official sources, non-ferrous metals were practically not mined in Rus' until the 18th century.

Non-ferrous metallurgy of the Russian Empire

The experience of the first sovereign copper smelters, which appeared in the period 1638-1640, when copper deposits were discovered on the river. Kalkarke, was unsuccessful. There was not enough ore to supply the load. Less than ten years later, production had to be stopped and the factories themselves closed.

Peter's reforms gave a new impetus to the development of the mining industry - he transferred the exploration and processing of non-ferrous metal ores to private hands. The Berg Collegium, created by the emperor, served as a kind of Ministry of Geology (if we draw analogies), deciding who should be given the authority to search for and develop ores, and who should not.

Moreover, there was no need to talk about “rich deposits”. There were small springs in the Olonets province and on Pechora, but they were clearly not enough for the needs of the domestic market. So the main supplier of non-ferrous metals for the Russian Empire was Europe. And the military-strategic position of Rus' required as much iron and copper as possible. They were called the metals of war. Developments in the Urals were supposed to improve the situation.

In 1750, 72 iron and 29 copper smelters in Russia produced finished products. But already by the 90s, two enterprises of the Bogoslovsky and Votsky districts represented the entire Ural production.

“On the western slope of the Urals, which was once covered with a whole series of copper smelters, only one Yugovsky plant continues to operate with a capacity of only about 40 tons of copper. All over the eastern slope of the Urals, from the north from the Bogoslovsky plants to the Preobrazhensky plant in the south of the Urals, there are once operating copper smelters and mines, most of which have not been developed for several decades" (L. B. Kafengauz "The Evolution of Industrial Production in Russia ").

Rice. 3. View of the Miass copper smelter in the Urals. 1773
Source: website infourok.ru

And only at the end of the 90s there was a shift in the development of the copper industry - a shift that began to rise only at the beginning of the 20th century, turning the copper industry into one of the rapidly developing industries. Since 1906, a truly fantastic growth in copper production began, and in 7 years it grew 3.6 times.

And even the decline, when the country was going through hard times, revolutions and wars, and it lasted no less than 15 years, did not prevent Soviet Russia from achieving considerable success in the copper industry.

Today's copper industry in the Russian Federation

Russia has remained for many years a major supplier of copper and copper products to the world market. In 2016, 860.1 thousand tons of refined copper were produced here. Copper production amounted to 844.7 thousand tons.