The International Copper Study Group (ICSG), based in Lisbon, Portugal, has released the new edition of its biannual Directory of Copper Mines and Plants, providing facility-by-facility production capacity and summary country capacity through 2018.
The directory also presents the main projects to be developed in the next decade and includes updates to capacity and ownership for about 1,200 facilities, with charts on current and long-term global distribution capacity.
According to ICSG, based on existing facilities and announced projects, annual copper mine production capacity is expected to grow at an average rate of around 6 percent per year until 2018, to reach 27.5 metric tons per year.
Peru is projected to account for 26 percent of the additional capacity from new mine projects and expansions through 2018, followed by Zambia, Mexico, Mongolia, China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Together, these six countries will represent 66 percent of the world growth, according to ICSG.
Annual copper smelter capacity growth is projected to lag behind the growth in concentrate capacity, growing by an average of 3 percent per year to reach 22.5 million metric tons per year in 2018, according to the report. China is continuing to expand its smelting capacity and will account for 60 percent of the expected world growth through 2018, ICSG says. China’s copper smelting capacity increased by around 4.4 million metric tons per year from 2000 to 2014 and is expected to increase by 1.6 million metric tons per year by 2018.
ICSG statistics indicate that world copper refinery capacity will reach 30.2 million metric tons per year in 2018, an increase of almost 3 million metric tons from 2014.
For more information about the directory including purchase details, visit www.icsg.org.