Copper mining in the four southwestern states of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah produces almost all of the United States’ red metal output. In 2024, almost two-thirds of the total came from Arizona alone.
The region’s dominance in copper production is based on several factors. Geologically, the four states lie within the red-metal rich Laramide porphyry copper province, also known as the Arizona-Sonora Copper Belt.
In addition, a long history of copper extraction – dating back to the late 19th century – has helped establish mining infrastructure, institutional knowledge and culture around copper. Finally, favourable weather and topography allow for year-round mining.
The Northern Miner takes a look at the Southwest states’ share of production in 2024 and their top-producing mines.
The total U.S. copper production figure is derived from company- and state-sourced data. It exceeds the official USGS recoverable copper estimate of 997,903 tonnes because of differences in reporting periods, definitions, and potentially underreported smaller operations.
Sources: The Northern Miner, Nevada Mining Association, company filings, USGS. Design: James Alafriz
Be the first to comment on "Infographic: Why most US copper is from the Southwest"