Copper ore grades have fallen 40% since 1991

Global weighted average copper ore grade, percent

Line chart showing copper ore grades declining from 1.00% in 1991 to 0.55% in 2025, a 40% drop.

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Source: IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025; Calvo et al., MDPI Resources 2016; BHP. Note: 2015–2025 values interpolated from published trendline.Get the dataCreated with Datawrapper