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Understanding Copper Mining: Processing, Supply Challenges, and Global Resources

Copper is essential for modern technology, with a typical car requiring about 50 kg of copper. However, extracting this metal is resource-intensive. Natural rock contains only a small percentage of copper, necessitating the processing of massive amounts of rock to yield enough metal. For example, obtaining 1 gram of copper requires processing nearly a kilogram of rock, making ore deposits crucial. This overview examines the challenges of copper production, how it relates to rare earth elements, and the ongoing supply concerns amid increasing demand in the USA.

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Understanding Copper Mining: Processing, Supply Challenges, and Global Resources

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  1. ESCI 101The Earth Instructor: Cin-Ty Lee

  2. What goes into making these devices?

  3. Most of our metals are rare ~50 kg of Cu used in a typical car ~kg of Nd Cu in typical rock is 10 ppm (or 10 grams Cu per 1,000,000 grams of rock) If you want 50 kg of Cu, you need to process 5,000 tons of rock! Nd in typical rock is 20 ppm So….

  4. In nature, we have ore deposits to help concentrate Cu ores are at 0.1 wt. % (or 1000 ppm) Compared to average crust, this is 100-fold enrichment Still, we need to process the ore To get 1 g of Cu, we need to process to 1 kg of rock For a typical car, we need to process 50 tons of ore

  5. Bingham Copper MineSalt Lake City, UT

  6. Ok Tedi Copper Mine, PNG

  7. The Copper Crunch Prepared by the Resnick Institute

  8. Rare earth element crunch REE workforce in USA Dysprosium Demand

  9. Production supply Time Declining production (1) resource depleted

  10. demand Production supply Time Declining production (2) production gap!

  11. Where are the world’s copper ores?

  12. Earthquake map

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