Infographic: Copper spheres of control
MINING.COM and The Northern Miner mapped global copper production through a geopolitical lens, dividing the world into five “spheres of control”: American, Chinese, Russian, Coalition of the Willing, and Undrafted.
These groupings reflect geographic, social, cultural, and economic ties—and possible alignments in a more polarized world.
America still ahead
The American Sphere leads with 48.7% of global copper output over the past five years, followed by the Chinese Sphere at 29.9%.
The Russian Sphere and the Coalition of the Willing each account for just under 10%, while 1.9% remains undrafted.
The bottom panel ranks top-producing countries, led by Chile, the DRC, and Peru.
(By Anthony Vaccaro; Files from: Ali Ravaghi; Creative: James Alafriz)
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3 Comments
Jaime Claro
you show an incomplete picture, control of smelter and refinery production is also very important
Anthony Vaccaro
Patience Jaime. This one is on extraction. We will cover refinery production in the next segment of the series.
Terence Trezevant
So… Brazil, a founding member of BRICS, is in the American sphere? Might not have much copper, but not sure about the geopolitical grouping chosen here.