China Refined Copper Production Statistics 2009-2019

Electrolytic copper is a non-ferrous metal closely related to human beings. It is widely used in electrical, light industry, machinery manufacturing, construction industry, defense industry and other fields. It is second only to aluminum in the consumption of non-ferrous metal materials in my country. Copper is the most widely used and used in the electrical and electronic industries, accounting for more than half of the total consumption. Used in various cables and wires, windings of motors and transformers, switches and printed circuit boards, etc.

    There are very few natural copper stocks in nature, and they generally exist in the form of metal symbiotic ore. Copper ore is often associated with a variety of heavy metals and rare metals, such as gold, silver, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, selenium, lead, tellurium, cobalt, nickel, and molybdenum. According to the nature of copper compounds, copper minerals can be divided into three types: natural copper, sulfide ore and oxide ore, mainly sulfide ore and oxide ore, especially sulfide ore is the most widely distributed. About 90% of the world's copper output comes from sulfide ore. . Copper ore is enriched by beneficiation to obtain a concentrate, which is usually brown, gray, dark brown, yellow-green, in powder form, with a particle size generally less than 0.074mm and a copper content of 13-30%.

    The blister copper (99% copper content) is pre-made into a thick plate as the anode, pure copper is made into a thin sheet as the cathode, and a mixture of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and copper sulfate (CuSO4) is used as the electrolyte. After energization, copper dissolves into copper ions (Cu) from the anode and moves to the cathode. After reaching the cathode, electrons are obtained and pure copper (also known as electrolytic copper) is deposited at the cathode. Impurities in blister copper, such as iron and zinc, which are more active than copper, dissolve into ions (Zn and Fe) along with copper. Since these ions are less likely to be precipitated than copper ions, the precipitation of these ions on the cathode can be avoided by appropriately adjusting the potential difference during electrolysis. Impurities that are less active than copper, such as gold and silver, are deposited at the bottom of the electrolytic cell. The copper plates produced in this way, called "electrolytic copper", are of extremely high quality and can be used to make electrical products.

Chinese Refined Copper Production Statistics (2009 - 2019)

Datas source: China National Bureau of Statistics(http://www.stats.gov.cn/)