Copper

Everything You Need to Know About Copper Porphyries

Published

8 years ago

March 11, 2015

Jeff Desjardins

Everything You Need to Know About Copper Porphyries

Presented by Entrée Gold

What is a Porphyry?

Porphyry deposits are very large, polymetallic systems that typically contain copper along with other important metals. Much of today’s mineral production depends on porphyries: 60% of copper, 95% of molbdenum, and 20% of gold comes from this deposit type.

Where and How are Porphyries Formed?

Porphyries are most commonly found along the west coast of North and South America, as well as in the Southwest Pacific.

Porphyries are formed in tectonic plate convergent zones where oceanic crust has subducted beneath the continental crust, and in some cases the oceanic crust. As the plate subducts, the overlying upper mantle partially melts and the liquid magma rises to the surface. Hot fluids rise to the surface by flowing through cracks and fissures. Metals precipitate out of the solution as fluid cools and moves away from the heat source and pressure.

Mineralization

In porphyry mineralization, there are many economic minerals that can be found: copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, lead, zinc, tin, and tungsten. There are also associated mineral deposits that can form that depend on the host rock and the distance from the heat source. These include skarn, epithermal, and breccia type deposits.

Four Things to Know on Porphyries

Polymetallic nature – Each porphyry is unique and holds different concentrations of minerals. Some deposits have such high concentrations of gold that they may be considered gold deposits rather than copper deposits. Others have barely any gold at all but may have plenty of molybdenum.
Large Size, Low Grade – Porphyries typically have 100 million to 5 billion tonnes of ore with a lower grade (0.2% to >1% copper). It is the size of these deposits that allow for bulk mining and economies of scale.
Long Mine Life – The size of porphyry systems usually mean that the life of the mine can be multi-decades long. This means that these deposits last through multiple market cycles, and are thus not as vulnerable to challenging market environments compared to other smaller mines.
Infrastructure is Key – In order to process large amounts of ore, infrastructure can be a large part of initial capital expenditures (CAPEX). Access to power and water are key issues as large amounts of both are needed to process ore. The footprint of the mine and volume of tailings disposal can also make porphyries more challenging to permit.

Example Porphyry

Each year the Bingham Canyon Mine, located in Utah and owned by Rio Tinto and in production since 1906, produces approximately:

300,000 tons of copper
400,000 oz of gold
4,000,000 oz of silver
30,000,000 lbs of molybdenum

The value of the resources extracted to date from the Bingham Canyon Mine is greater than the Comstock Lode, Klondike, and California gold rush mining regions combined.

Related Topics:mining copper gold porphyry molybdenum porphyries

Up Next

Dajin Resources Company Snapshot

Don't Miss

Red Lake: The High-Grade Gold Capital of the World

1 Comment

Copper

Ranked: The World’s Largest Copper Producers

Many new technologies critical to the energy transition rely on copper. Here are the world’s largest copper producers.

Published

6 months ago

December 1, 2022

Bruno Venditti

Visualizing the World’s Largest Copper Producers

This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on natural resource megatrends in your email every week.

Man has relied on copper since prehistoric times. It is a major industrial metal with many applications due to its high ductility, malleability, and electrical conductivity.

Many new technologies critical to fighting climate change, like solar panels and wind turbines, rely on the red metal.

But where does the copper we use come from? Using the U.S. Geological Survey’s data, the above infographic lists the world’s largest copper producing countries in 2021.

The Countries Producing the World’s Copper

Many everyday products depend on minerals, including mobile phones, laptops, homes, and automobiles. Incredibly, every American requires 12 pounds of copper each year to maintain their standard of living.

North, South, and Central America dominate copper production, as these regions collectively host 15 of the 20 largest copper mines.

Chile is the top copper producer in the world, with 27% of global copper production. In addition, the country is home to the two largest mines in the world, Escondida and Collahuasi.

Chile is followed by another South American country, Peru, responsible for 10% of global production.

Rank	Country	2021E Copper Production (Million tonnes)	Share
#1	🇨🇱 Chile	5.6	27%
#2	🇵🇪 Peru	2.2	10%
#3	🇨🇳 China	1.8	8%
#4	🇨🇩 DRC	1.8	8%
#5	🇺🇸 United States	1.2	6%
#6	🇦🇺 Australia	0.9	4%
#7	🇷🇺 Russia	0.8	4%
#8	🇿🇲 Zambia	0.8	4%
#9	🇮🇩 Indonesia	0.8	4%
#10	🇲🇽 Mexico	0.7	3%
#11	🇨🇦 Canada	0.6	3%
#12	🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	0.5	2%
#13	🇵🇱 Poland	0.4	2%
	🌍 Other countries	2.8	13%
	🌐 World total	21.0	100%

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and China share third place, with 8% of global production each. Along with being a top producer, China also consumes 54% of the world’s refined copper.

Copper’s Role in the Green Economy

Technologies critical to the energy transition, such as EVs, batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines require much more copper than conventional fossil fuel based counterparts.

For example, copper usage in EVs is up to four times more than in conventional cars. According to the Copper Alliance, renewable energy systems can require up to 12x more copper compared to traditional energy systems.