Copper value ladder

From half-percent rock to grid-grade commodity.

Price per kilogram versus annual material scale, log-log. Diagonal guide lines are rough iso-value bands. The orange path shows the compression of enormous low-grade ore flows into a much smaller stream of high-value copper cathode and fabricated electrical products.

Axes: x = gross value per kg of material; y = annual mass flow. Values are deliberately rounded.
ore / rock leach chemistry refined copper fabricated value
Copper value map A log-log chart of material price per kilogram against annual mass flow, showing copper's route from low grade ore through leach solution and cathode to electrical products.
How to read it: moving right means each kilogram is worth more; moving down means the material stream is smaller. The metallurgical trick is not magic price discovery: it is selective removal of waste mass. SX/EW turns dilute copper dissolved by sulfuric acid into cathode without sending the material through a smelter.
0.52% Cu ore at $9.70/kg Cu
≈ $0.050/kg gross contained copper value
1.0 Mt U.S. mined Cu / 0.52% ≈ 190 Mt ore-equivalent
Sources: USGS MCS 2026; Freeport North America operations; rounded 2024-2026 copper price ranges.