The Availability Of Copper From The Pacific Rim

In order to determine copper resource data and production costs for major market economy mines and deposits, the Bureau of Mines has performed detailed engineering and economic analyses on 271 of the world's most significant copper deposits. At the demonstrated resource level, copper potentially recoverable from these deposits is estimated to be 325 million metric tons, 180 million tons of which would be from Pacific Rim countries. Chile has the largest known copper resources of any country and accounts for nearly 45 percent of the copper avail- able from Pacific Rim countries. At $1.00 per pound, in January 1981 dollars, an estimated 80 million metric tons of copper are potentially economically recoverable from Pacific Rim deposits. At this same price, analyses indicate that these deposits could economically produce about 2 million metric tons of copper per year. Sensitivity analyses reveal that if operating costs were to decrease 25 percent, with copper at a price of $1.00 per pound, total copper economically recoverable from Pacific Rim countries could increase by about 10 percent; a 25 percent increase in operating costs could lower economically recoverable copper by 50 percent. Analyses also indicate that byproduct prices are important. If byproduct revenues increased 25 percent, at a copper price of $1.00 per pound, an additional 2 million metric tons of copper could be recovered; if byproduct revenues decrease 25 percent, about 5 million metric tons less of copper metal would be available. Since the January 1981 date of this study, inflation and decreases in copper and byproduct prices have greatly affected the profitability of the world copper industry. Many producing mines have curtailed or suspended production, and development of many non- producing deposits has been postponed.