The Worl d Copper Factbook 2019 International Copper Study Group 16 Copper Smelter Production 0 2 5 0 0 5 0 0 0 7 5 0 0 10 000 12 500 15 000 17 500 20 000 22 500 1980 19 85 1990 1995 2000 2 005 2010 2015 W o r l d C o pper S m el t e r P r od uc t i on 1980 2 0 1 8 Thous and m e t r i c t onne s copper S our c e I C S G P r i m ar y F e e d S e c o n d a r y F e ed Smelt i ng is the pyrometallurgical proc ess us ed to p r oduce copper metal In 2018 wo rld copper smel ter pr od ucti on re ached 20 1 million tonnes copper Recently th e trend to recover copper dir e ctly from ores thr o ugh leac hing pro c e s se s ha s b een on the increase Pri m ary sme l t e rs us e mine concen trates as th eir mai n so u r ce of f eed al t houg h so me use copper scr a p as well Secondary co p p e r smel ter s use copper scr a p as th eir fee d