Over 30% of all globally mined copper now comes from sites with The Copper Mark, the leading assurance framework for responsible value chains of copper. The milestone has been reached after all of Codelco’s mines and smelters completed their assurance process and were granted the Copper Mark.
The now 54 Copper Mark recipients include ten of the twenty largest copper mines in terms of global production. Furthermore, the Copper Mark now covers almost 80% of mined copper in Chile, the world’s number one copper mining nation, according to 2022 production figures from CRU.
Chilean state-owned Codelco was ranked the largest copper producing company in the world in 2022 according to data from CRU, the global commodities expert, with a total of 1.6Mt of mined copper. They were followed by Freeport McMoRan and BHP, whose main assets have also received The Copper Mark.
Michèle Brülhart, the Copper Mark’s Chief Executive said:
“The Copper Mark now covers almost a third of globally mined copper and 80% of production in the largest copper producing nation in the world. This is an exciting milestone and shows the progress we have made towards our vision of all copper being responsibly produced .”
“The energy transition is boosting copper demand. We will continue to work hard to ensure the social and environmental benefits of clean energy are not undermined by the impacts caused by the extraction of materials needed to support it. As part of this work, we continue to engage with the full value chain and to extend our partnerships with end users. These efforts across the industry are welcomed by consumers, who are increasingly seeking out more responsibly produced raw materials”.
