Recent Developments in Primary Copper Supply for Energy Systems in the United States

Demand for copper is expected to increase in the United States as energy infrastructure expands to accommodate data centers, new electricity generation, and electric vehicles. While scaling-up recycling of copper is important for meeting domestic demand, a number of active and emerging copper producers have announced new activities for expanding primary copper production. Market and facility-level models representing mine productivity and energy and materials flows have been developed, but the potential future portfolio of mining supply is diverse and requires further characterization to support planning for supply chains and technology deployment. Herein, we present a dataset of mine projects, providing estimates of copper productivity by technology pathway. We review diesel, electricity, water, and tailing waste generation factors reported in literature and used in life-cycle assessment databases, highlighting incontinences and gaps where values may not represent primary production of copper in the United States, now and in the future. Overall, we find 1.1 million tonnes/yr of new cathode-grade copper production potential, with 8% generated from leaching processes that avoid smelting. Our findings suggest limits to smelting could be a bottleneck for new projects generating conventional sulphide ore copper concentrate, and highlight how enormous quantities of waste materials hold promise for leaching efforts. Partnerships between mines and providers of key resources such as water, fuel, and electricity could have far reaching effects as copper mining expands beyond the Southwest where it holds an established industrial presence.