The Materials Atlas

Copper · primary Gold · by-product Molybdenum · by-product Silver · by-product

이 사이트에 대하여

Escondida sits 3,100 m up in the driest desert on Earth and pumps desalinated seawater 180 km uphill to run its concentrators. It is the single clearest example of what modern copper costs: enormous scale, falling grade, and infrastructure that dwarfs the mine itself.

품위. Sulfide ore grades have fallen from over 2% Cu in the early years to well under 1%, the classic porphyry decline.

A porphyry copper system, in cross-section

A body of magma cools a few kilometres down, cracks the rock above it, and drives metal-bearing fluids up through the fractures. The result is a huge, low-grade volume rather than a rich vein — which is why porphyry mines are enormous open pits. Schematic. Real systems are 1–5 km across and the zones grade into each other rather than sitting in neat bands. Original diagram, The Materials Atlas.

'품위'란 암석 중 유용 성분의 비율입니다. 품위 0.5%의 구리 광산은 구리 1톤을 출하하기 위해 암석 199톤을 버립니다. 이 단 하나의 수치가 어떤 광체가 실제 광산이 될지, 아니면 단순히 흥미로운 지질 표본에 그칠지를 결정합니다.

산출물

Copper

The reddish metal that carries electricity better than anything except silver, and which humans have been smelting…

PrimaryCu

Gold

The metal that does not tarnish, does not corrode and never runs out once mined — which is why almost all of it ever…

By-productAu

Molybdenum

A silvery metal added to steel so it keeps its strength at high temperature and under pressure.

By-productMo

Silver

The best electrical conductor there is, and the metal that has been used as money for longer than almost anything…

By-productAg

"부산물"이란 누군가 의도적으로 찾아서가 아니라, 같은 암석에 우연히 존재하기 때문에 회수되는 금속이다. 따라서 그 공급은 자체 경제성이 아닌 주산물의 경제성을 따른다.

소유 주체

기업	역할	관심도
BHP Group	Miner	Operator
Rio Tinto	Miner	Non-operating stake

운영사가 공개 보고한 자료를 기준으로 한다. 대형 광산의 소유권은 변경될 수 있으므로, 의사결정 전 최신 기업 공시를 확인할 것.

여기서 시작하는 여정

Chilean sulfide concentrate to Chinese cathode to a wire Chile mines the most copper in the world. China refines the most. Those are not the same sentence.

이 광산의 공급망 내 위치

Copper to the Grid

From 0.5% rock to 99.99% cathode to the wire in a wall.

공급망

Escondida