Huge amounts of copper have been swept up from the Pacific Ocean floor as the Andes Mountains were formed in Chile and Peru.
Have you noticed most copper mines are bowl shaped? Why that configuration? Why such concentration in that place AND unusual combinations of other normally scarce metals?
www.thebalance.com/the-world-s-20-largest-copper-mines-2014-23397451. At present the world’s largest copper producer, the Escondida mine in Chile's Atacama desert accounts for 5 percent of total global copper mine production. Gold and silver are extracted as by-products from the ore.
2. The Grasberg mine, located in the highlands of Indonesia's Papua province, is the world's largest gold mine and second-largest copper mine. Operated by PT Freeport Indonesia Co., the mine is a joint venture between Freeport McMoRan (90.64 percent) and the Indonesian government (9.36 percent).
3. The Morenci mine in Arizona is the largest copper mine in North America. Operated by Freeport McMoRan, the mine is jointly owned by the company (85 percent) and Sumitomo Affiliates (15 percent). Morenci opened for operation in 1872 and now made up of three mining pits
4. Buenavista, also known as Cananea copper mine, located in Sonora, Mexico, is the world’s second-biggest copper mine by reserve. The open-pit mine contains 27 million metric tons of copper reserve.
Opened in 1899, Cananea is one of the oldest open-pit mines in North America and is currently owned and operated by the Southern Copper Corporation (SCC), a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico.
5. Cerro Verde copper mine, located 20 miles southwest of Arequipa in Peru, is the seventh-largest copper mine in the world. The open-pit mine contains an estimated 12.9 million metric tons of recoverable copper.
Cerro Verde has been operational since 1976.
6. Chile's second-largest copper mine, Collahuasi, is a owned by a consortium of Anglo American (44 percent), Glencore (44 percent), and Mitsui + Nippon (12 percent). Collahuasi mine produces copper concentrate and cathodes as well as molybdenum concentrate. Most of the concentrate produced at Collahuasi is sold to smelters in China for further refining.0.
7. The Antamina copper-zinc mine is located 170 miles north of Lima. Silver, bismuth, molybdenum, and lead are also separated from the ore produced at Antamina. Jointly owned by BHP Billiton (33.75 percent), Teck (22.5 percent), Glencore (33.75 percent), and Mitsubishi Corp. (10 percent), the mine is scheduled to cease production in 2019.
8. Las Bambas Peru has Bambas has mineral reserves of 7.2 million metric tons of copper and mineral resources of 12.6 million metric tons. The mine's operators estimate that in coming years, more than 2 million metric tons of copper will be produced in concentrate.
Mine operators had to move 75 million tons of material in 2014 before commencing mining operations. They estimate that the Las Bambas operation will last more than 20 years since its exploration potential is considerable; only 10 percent of the property has been explored so far.
9. Polar Division (Norilsk/Talnakh Mills) - Russia
The mine is operated as part of the Polar Division of MMC Norilsk Nickel. Located in Siberia, you wouldn't want to work here unless you really like the cold. The underground nickel mine began production in the 1930s and is a source of cobalt, gold, silver, and platinum group metals, as well as copper.
10. El Teniente, The world's largest underground mine, is located in the Andes of central Chile. Owned and operated by Chilean state copper miner Codelco, El Teniente has been mined since the 19th century and is now comprised of more than 1,500 miles of tunnels