DR Congo passed Chile in refined copper
Refined copper output, DR Congo vs Chile, million tonnes, 2019 and 2025. USGS.
- 1. Indonesia now mines two-thirds of the world's nickel
- 2. Kazakhstan mines more uranium than Canada and Namibia combined
- 3. Argentina mined 60% more lithium in just one year
- 4. The price of lithium fell 86% in three years
- 5. Indonesia climbed from ninth to second among cobalt miners
- 6. DR Congo tripled its copper mining in ten years
- 7. DR Congo passed Chile in refined copper
- 8. Zimbabwe climbed to fourth among the world's lithium miners
- 9. DR Congo mines three-quarters of the world's cobalt
- 10. Guinea overtook Australia as the world's biggest bauxite miner
- 11. Brazil mines 93% of the world's niobium
DR Congo's refined copper equalled 88% of its mine output in 2025 (2.8 of 3.2 Mt), up from 84% in 2019.
Chile, the top miner, refined 1.7 Mt of the 5.3 Mt it dug, down from 2.27 Mt refined in 2019.
The year DR Congo passed Chile in refined copper, 2.17 vs 2.08 Mt: more of the metal's value stays in central Africa.
the numbers & method
| 2019 (Mt) | 2025 (Mt) | |
|---|---|---|
| DR Congo | 1.08 | 2.80 |
| Chile | 2.27 | 1.70 |
Claim types Fact · Estimate · Interpretation
U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Copper, table 'World Mine and Refinery Production and Reserves', thousand metric tons of copper content; 2025 values are USGS estimates. 2025e mine / refinery: Chile 5,300 / 1,700; Congo (Kinshasa) 3,200 / 2,800; Peru 2,700 / 340; China 1,800 / 14,000; Russia 1,300 / 950; United States 1,000 / 850; Zambia 940 / 270; Australia 730 / 460; Indonesia 710 / 400; Kazakhstan 710 / 500; Mexico 690 / 480; world 23,000 / 29,000 (rounded). Earlier years from earlier editions: MCS 2025 (https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2025/mcs2025-copper.pdf), refinery 2023: Congo (Kinshasa) 2,170, Chile 2,080; MCS 2024 (https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2024/mcs2024-copper.pdf), refinery 2022: Congo 1,770, Chile 2,150; MCS 2021 (https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2021/mcs2021-copper.pdf), refinery 2019: Congo 1,080, Chile 2,270; mine 2019: Congo 1,290, Chile 5,790. China is left off the chart for scale: it mined 1.8 Mt and refined 14.0 Mt in 2025 (estimate), almost half of world refined output, mostly from imported ore and scrap. Refined-to-mined ratios (DR Congo 87.5%, Chile 32.1%) are progrss calculations; they compare national tonnages and do not trace which ore each refinery used. Refinery output can include metal from imported concentrate and from scrap; the MCS world table does not define refinery production (the US salient statistics split refinery output into primary, from ore, and secondary, from scrap). Takeaway 3's second clause is an interpretation. USGS data are in the public domain.
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