Porphyry copper deposits are the most important copper resources in the world, and the associated gold, molybdenum or zinc also have great economic value. Super-large (5 million tons or more) porphyry copper deposits are concentrated in the Pacific Rim (Chile, Peru, the United States, Panama, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, etc.), the Tethys-Himalayan metallogenic domain (China, Pakistan, etc.) and paleo-Asian metallogenic domains (Mongolia, Kazakhstan, etc.), and the circum-Pacific metallogenic domains, especially in the South American Andes metallogenic belt.

The sedimentary rock-type layered copper deposits mainly produced in the Central African metallogenic regions (Congo (Kinshasa), Zambia, etc.) have very important economic value and are also the main source of cobalt. Such copper mines are also produced in Russia, Poland, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Chile, Australia and other countries.

Typical deposits of magmatic sulfides include the Norilsk-Tarnach nickel-copper mine in Russia, the Duluth copper-nickel mine in the United States, the Schodeberry nickel-copper-platinum group element deposit in Canada, and the Jinchuan copper-nickel mine in Gansu, China, etc. Typical deposits of volcanic massive sulfides include the Nevisheng-Corvo zinc-copper deposit in Portugal, etc. Typical iron oxide copper-gold deposits include the Olympic Dam copper-uranium-gold-rare earth-iron deposit in Australia, etc. Typical rock-type deposits include the Pumpkin Valley Copper Mine in the United States and the Dongguashan Copper Mine in Tongling, Anhui, China.

Copper mines are mined in more than 50 countries around the world. In addition to the five countries with production exceeding one million tons, Australia, Zambia, Russia, Mexico, Canada, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Poland, etc. are also important copper producing countries, and the production of the above 13 countries accounts for 86.2% of the world. National Copper of Chile, Glencore of Switzerland, BHP Billiton of Australia, Freeport-McMoRan of the United States, Southern Copper of the United States, First Quantum Mining of Canada, Copper Group of Poland, Rio Tinto of the United Kingdom, Antofagasta of Chile, Anglo-American of the United Kingdom The top 10 companies such as resources will account for 45% of the world's copper production in 2020.

The main exporting countries of copper concentrate are Chile, the United States, Indonesia, Canada, Brazil, Australia, etc.; the main importing countries are China, Japan, India, South Korea, Germany, Spain, the Philippines, Bulgaria, Brazil and Sweden, etc. The imports of these 10 countries It accounts for more than 80% of global imports. The main exporting countries of refined copper are Chile, Zambia, India, Peru, Japan, Australia, Russia, Poland, etc., and the main importing countries are China, Germany, the United States, Italy, etc. The main countries in the global copper trade are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and China. Germany and Japan are net exporters, and the United States and China are net importers.