Markets and commodities react

Canadian equity markets were largely down this week.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) fell 3.87 percent over the week to close Friday (March 6) at 33,083.72, while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) slipped 4.54 percent to 1,057.04.

However, the CSE Composite Index (CSE:CSECOMP) gained 1.27 percent to 178.51.

The gold price fell 3.31 percent to close at US$5,170.63 per ounce on Friday at 4:00 p.m. EST. The silver price fared worse, closing the week down 6.4 percent at US$84.30 on Friday.

In base metals, the Comex copper price recorded a 2.01 percent decrease this week to US$5.85 per pound.

The S&P Goldman Sachs Commodities Index (INDEXSP:SPGSCI) was up 16.14 percent to end Friday at 700.62.

Top Canadian mining stocks this week

How did mining stocks perform against this backdrop? Take a look at this week’s five best-performing Canadian mining stocks below.

Stocks data for this article was retrieved at 4:00 p.m. EST on Friday using TradingView’s stock screener. Only companies trading on the TSX, TSXV and CSE with market caps greater than C$10 million are included. Mineral companies within the non-energy minerals, energy minerals, process industry and producer manufacturing sectors were considered.

1. Adex Mining (TSXV:ADE)

Weekly gain: 100 percent
Market cap: C$128.67 million
Share price: C$0.19

Adex Mining is an exploration company that holds a 100 percent stake in the Mount Pleasant project in Southwest New Brunswick, Canada. The property contains two main deposits: the Fire Tower zone, which hosts tungsten and molybdenum mineralization, and the North zone, which hosts tin, zinc and indium.

The asset consists of 102 mineral claims covering 1,600 hectares, as well as equipment and facilities from historic mining operations conducted by BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) between 1983 and 1985.

According to its most recent investor presentation released on June 11, the property hosts the world’s largest indium reserve and North America’s largest tin deposit. Indicated resources for the North zone demonstrate contained metal values of 47 million kilograms of tin, and 789,000 kilograms of indium from 12.4 million metric tons with average grades of 0.38 percent tin and 64 parts per million indium.

Adex Mining has not released news since it published its interim management discussion and analysis on November 18.

In a mid-February interview, New Brunswick Natural Resources Minister John Herron revealed that a deal “is due imminently with a well-known company in the Canadian mining community” for Adex’s Mount Pleasant project.

While the company did not release news this week, the project may benefit from the freshly announced New Brunswick Comprehensive Mineral Strategy. The report highlights Mount Pleasant’s indium, tin and tungsten mineralization.

2. Southern Energy (TSXV:SOU)

Weekly gain: 91.67 percent
Market cap: C$29.3 million
Share price: C$0.115

Southern Energy is an oil and gas company with assets located in Mississippi, US. The majority of its production is natural gas.

Its operations are centered around the state’s Interior Salt Basin, in the northeastern Gulf Coast Region. Southern has an interest in producing wells spread across several assets, including Gwinville, Mechanicsburg and Mount Olive East.

According to a February 2026 corporate presentation, current production from the company’s wells is about 11 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day, with 27.9 million barrels of oil equivalent in reserves.

The company’s most recent news came on February 12, when Southern closed a non-brokered private placement that generated proceeds of US$23.5 million. The company said the funds will be used to repay the balance of a US$12.9 million senior credit facility, with the rest being directed to development capital, including the completion of two wells in Gwinville.

The share price gains also come amid volatility in the energy market.

3. Africa Energy (TSXV:AFE)

Weekly gain: 86.67 percent
Market cap: C$165.31 million
Share price: C$0.42

Africa Energy is a South Africa focused oil and gas exploration and development company.

Its flagship asset is Block 11B/12B located approximately 175 kilometers off the south coast of South Africa. The block covers an area of 18,734 square kilometers and depths between 200 meters and 1,800 meters.

It holds a 4.9 percent interest in the asset through its investment in Main Street 1549, a 49/51 joint venture with Arostyle Investments. The three other partners in the asset announced plans to withdraw from the Block 11B/12B joint venture in July 2024, and announced a definitive agreement for the new ownership structure of the Block 11B/12B asset in May 2025.

The restructuring would result in Africa Energy owning a direct 75 percent stake in the block, with Arostyle holding the remainder. This is contingent on the asset being granted the production rights, which itself requires approval of its environmental and social impact assessment. The report must be submitted by May 2026.

Shares of Africa Energy posted gains this week amid energy market volatility.

The company has not released any news since January 26, when it announced the resignation of Dr. Phindile Masangane as Director and Head of Strategy and Business Development. She will still assist Africa Energy as a consultant.

4. Gabriel Resources (TSXV:GBU)

Weekly gain: 60 percent
Market cap: C$41.58 million
Share price: C$0.16

Gabriel Resources is a precious metals explorer and developer focused on advancing its Rosia Montana gold project. Based in Transylvania, Romania, Rosia Montana is in a region that has seen significant historic mining. Covering 2,388 hectares, the site is host to a mid-to-shallow epithermal system containing deposits of gold and silver.

The most recent resource estimate from a 2012 technical report shows proven and probable quantities of 10.1 million ounces of gold and 47.6 million ounces of silver. Gabriel has invested more than US$760 million into Rosia Montana, but has undertaken little development at the site since the early 2010s, as Romania blocked further development.

In 2015, the company entered into arbitration through the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) over permitting at the site and suggested that Romania was in violation of bilateral investment treaties. In March 2024, Gabriel issued a press release with an update saying that its case against Romania had been dismissed by the ICSID, which also awarded Romania US$10 million in legal fees and expenses. Gabriel said it would review the decision with its legal team and evaluate its options.

In March 2025, Gabriel announced that the committee had ruled that a stay of enforcement of the Award would continue if Gabriel guaranteed the proven solvency of the US$10 million.

The committee was scheduled to hold hearings on January 22 and 23 of this year, but on January 19, Gabriel reported that the hearings would be postponed to a later date. A new date for the hearing has not been announced.

The company did not release news in the past week.

5. Rio Silver (TSXV:RYO)

Weekly gain: 48.05 percent
Market cap: C$41.58 million
Share price: C$1.14

Rio Silver is an exploration company advancing its Maria Norte project in Peru. The property changed hands several times in the 18 years prior to Rio Silver’s acquisition in March 2025, but saw little exploration during that time.

However, in a February 5 release, the company noted that historic mining occurred as the site hosts a reclaimed waste dump. In that announcement, the firm said it plans to advance surface mapping and sampling in the third quarter of 2026.

Throughout January, Rio Silver made several announcements regarding its exploration and development timeline. On January 6, the company reported results from technical work at the site, confirming the presence of silver mineralization with grades up to 991 g/t in a 0.7 meter channel sample.

To end the month, the company said it was launching a metallurgical program at the site to assist in determining the project’s potential value.

The most recent news came last week in a pair of releases.

The first on February 25, the company announced a new private placement to raise proceeds of up to C$3 million. Funds will be used to advance work at the Maria Norte project. The placement is being led by Sprott (TSX:SII,NYSE:SII) Founder Eric Sprott.

The second release came on February 26 when Rio reported it secured permission from the local community to begin site activities at Maria Norte. The company said it will continue working with the community to develop a formal definitive agreement for long-term exploration and mining activities.

FAQs for Canadian mining stocks

How much does it cost to list on the TSXV?

There are a variety of different fees that companies must pay to list on the TSXV, and according to the exchange, they can vary based on the transaction’s nature and complexity. The listing fee alone will most likely cost between C$10,000 to C$70,000. Accounting and auditing fees could rack up between C$25,000 and C$100,000, while legal fees are expected to be over C$75,000 and an underwriters’ commission may hit up to 12 percent.

The exchange lists a handful of other fees and expenses companies can expect, including but not limited to security commission and transfer agency fees, investor relations costs and director and officer liability insurance.

These are all just for the initial listing, of course. There are ongoing expenses once companies are trading, such as sustaining fees and additional listing fees, plus the costs associated with filing regular reports.

How do you trade on the TSXV?

Investors can trade on the TSXV the way they would trade stocks on any exchange. This means they can use a stock broker or an individual investment account to buy and sell shares of TSXV-listed companies during the exchange’s trading hours.

Platinum investment strength offsets softer overall demand

The forecast marks a shift from earlier expectations that the platinum market would return to balance in 2026.

Instead, strong investment sentiment and resilient exchange-traded fund holdings have pushed the market back into deficit territory. Even so, total demand for platinum is expected to decline moderately this year.

The WPIC projects overall demand will fall about 8 percent year-on-year to roughly 7.619 million ounces.

Much of that drop reflects a normalization in investment demand after a surge in 2025, when inflows into platinum exchange-traded funds and physical investment products climbed sharply.

However, demand for physical platinum bars and coins is expected to continue growing.

The WPIC forecasts that bar and coin investment will jump 35 percent in 2026 to 725,000 ounces, reaching the highest level recorded in the Platinum Quarterly dataset.

Investment purchases of platinum are increasing as the metal gains attention as a lower-priced alternative to gold, and as retail investment products become more widely available.

Supply growth lags as platinum deficit persists

While demand patterns shift across sectors, platinum supply growth remains limited.

Total platinum supply is expected to rise just 2 percent in 2026 to about 7.379 million ounces.

Mine output is forecast to remain essentially flat at roughly 5.553 million ounces, with production gains in South Africa and Zimbabwe offset by declines in North America and Russia.

The modest increase in supply will largely come from recycling. Higher platinum prices have encouraged the recovery of spent autocatalysts and recycled jewelry, pushing recycling supply up about 10 percent in 2025. That trend is expected to continue this year, with recycled metal rising another 10 percent to approximately 1.827 million ounces.

Still, the additional recycled material is unlikely to fully offset the underlying market tightness. As Raymond noted, another factor that could further deepen the deficit has yet to be fully reflected in current forecasts.

“One item not yet captured in the supply/demand balance is any exchange stocks warehoused with the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, which could potentially deepen the deficit versus current projections once these are made publicly available,” he said. For platinum investors, the persistence of deficits suggests that the market’s underlying fundamentals remain supportive even as demand moderates from last year’s highs.

“The price rally we’ve seen this year has not solved the deficit,” he said.

“Normally, in a deficit market, you would expect the price to increase. Clearly, the elevated prices we’ve experienced is still insufficient to attract more supply into the market or drag more metal out of aboveground stocks.”

With supply growth limited and inventories shrinking, the platinum market is likely to remain structurally tight, sustaining investor interest through 2026.

Oreterra Metals (TSXV:OTMC) is a mineral exploration company focused on delivering large-scale discoveries and the shareholder value that typically follows. Its strategy targets copper-gold porphyry systems in North America, selected for their scale, comparatively lower discovery costs versus high-grade vein systems, and strong appeal to major mining companies as potential long-life operations. The company emerged in February 2026 following the restructuring and rebranding of its predecessor, driven by the exceptional potential of the Trek South prospect.

Oreterra’s flagship asset is the wholly owned Trek South copper-gold porphyry prospect on the 6,379-hectare Trek property in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle. The prospect has only recently become accessible due to glacial retreat and remains effectively new to modern geological exploration. First identified in 2019, work conducted since 2021 has advanced the project to drill-ready status.

The company is led by a veteran management team with more than 100 years of combined experience in exploration, finance, and governance. Following a recent $9.7 million financing and supported by a lean share structure, Oreterra is fully funded to test its high-conviction targets, with the first-ever drill program at Trek South planned for the 2026 field season.

Company Highlights

• Fully Funded for 2026 Exploration: Recently completed a massively oversubscribed $9.7 million financing to support the first-ever drilling this summer of the wholly owned, large-scale Trek South prospect, only recently revealed by glacial ice melt.
• Drill‑Ready Flagship: The Trek South target has everything one seeks in a new porphyry copper-gold discovery prospect: i.e. large scale, terrific rock exposure, intense porphyry-style changes and metal values on surface in those rocks, and stacked (coincident), strongly positive, magnetic and geophysical anomalies directly below.
• Infrastructure Advantage: The Trek South prospect is just 3 kilometres up-slope from the nearest work camp, bridges and road presently under construction by the Teck/Newmont GCMC joint venture, and 12 kilometers from their proposed mill site.
• Proven Management: Led by CEO Kevin Keough, founding CEO of GT Gold Corp. which delivered the Saddle North porphyry copper-gold discovery (Dec. 13, 2017), later sold to Newmont for $523 million cash in current dollars following just $16.7 million of exploration outlays (Saddle North only).
• Asset Portfolio: Beyond the flagship, Oreterra holds high-grade gold and porphyry copper-gold assets in Nevada and Ontario.

This Oreterra Metals profile is part of a paid investor education campaign.*

Click here to connect with Oreterra Metals (TSXV:OTMC) to receive an Investor Presentation

Addressing data fragmentation in exploration

Once companies open up capital expenditures to the exploration side of the mining sector, several questions arise, most notably: Where are the minerals?

At its core, exploration relies on the geosciences, with a geologist in the field, sampling rocks, conducting surveys and using the data gathered to estimate where the best place is to put a drill for a look below the surface.

Mining is a data-driven enterprise, and depending on the project, the information can come from a range of methods, from modern techniques to historic observations, meaning the data is fragmented across a variety of sources and formats.

AI and machine learning can be good at processing and interpolating large quantities of information. However, data accessibility creates another roadblock.

“Across our industry, vast volumes of exploration data are sealed in archive rooms, and legacy systems can’t read through third-party data sets,” Tepponen said. “That data is neither structured, searchable nor interoperable. That means AI cannot make easy sense of it, and in many cases, that data was never extracted.”

For Tepponen, one of the challenges the mining industry needs to overcome is data fragmentation. Without enough data or proper information, there is an increased risk of making the wrong exploration decisions.

“Time matters because capital is finite. Drill meters are expensive, and decisions about capital allocation have multi-year impacts down the line,” he said.

The way BHP has implemented a data-centric approach is building a central data platform that integrates the decades of exploration data, standardizes it and makes it accessible through a central team within the company.

Tepponen says the platform supports 52 standardized core geoscience types, backed by more than 100 years of data, helping its exploration teams save months of time.

“Our geoscientists can access more than 4 million drill hole cores and 9,000 geophysical surveys through one portal,” he added.

Using BHP’s in-house AI extraction tool, one team of geoscientists obtained data from thousands of drill holes from 30,000 legacy document records. They then used the central data platform to combine that with modern drilling data.

According to Tepponen, the team completed the work in a few hours, while doing so manually would have taken months, and results were higher quality than the previous method.

However, he stressed that the integration of AI into its workflow wasn’t about replacing geoscience teams, but about “amplifying the work of geoscientists by creating a digital tool that enables them to focus on higher value.”

Additionally, the information in the platform is not limited to BHP’s data. Tepponen explained that the entire system is built on an open-source database designed to break down data silos and enable cross-sector collaboration.

Using targeted optimizations to avoid disruptions

While exploration poses a bottleneck to the development of new projects for future supply, disruptions to existing operations significantly impact current output.

It’s often impossible to predict major events like extreme weather, civil unrest or regulatory changes. However, operators can foresee some disruptions that result in hundreds of hours of downtime throughout the industry every year.

Tepponen outlined one persistent problem: oversized rocks and foreign objects making their way through processing plants.

“If an uncrushable rock or piece of metal gets into the crusher, it can cause blockages, damage belts and create significant downtime,” he said. “If it travels downstream, it can damage equipment and create critical bottlenecks.”

In Western Australia, BHP employs a hub-and-spoke model that connects five mines to a central processing facility. If one of the hazards disrupts operations at the facility, it can affect operations at the mines connected to it.

Additionally, fixing these issues exposes maintenance teams to higher-risk tasks, so eliminating the problem in the first place improves both productivity and safety.

Tepponen explained that historically, workers would be used to identify the hazards before they were loaded onto the truck, but once they reached the conveyor, they became much harder to remove.

The company now employs a real-time monitoring system that detects objects, alerts controllers and can automatically stop the conveyor.

“These are actually very simple technologies available commercially off the shelf. Cameras and machine learning control systems applied to a real world operational constraint,” he said.

In the prior three years, these incidents had caused over 1,000 hours of downtime, according to Tepponen. However, since it installed the monitoring system, the company hasn’t experienced any major disruptions or destruction events caused by oversized rocks, a change that he said amounts to hundreds of thousands of metric tons per year of increased processing.

“It’s a small system-level optimization that can deliver outsized returns on the AI journey. This is not a massive program. This is identifying simple constraints, applying proven technology,” he said, and emphasized the process of controlled testing, iteration and then deploying at scale. ‘That’s how systematic innovation actually happens.’

Testing scenarios with digital twin simulations

In his third use case example, he turned to BHP’s semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill at its Escondida operation in Chile, at which differing particle size and hardness in ore feed was impacting production.

The company used AI to create a digital twin of the value chain, which included everything that was known about the operation, such as ore body knowledge, processing behavior and operational constraints.

“That digital simulation enabled scenario testing and gave us the ability to inform blasting and blending strategies to predict granularity,” Tepponen said, noting that monthly production losses attributed to the problem fell by around 70 percent.

“The lesson, when the ore body knowledge is connected directly to the processing decisions, the system becomes more stable and predictable.”

BHP has since applied the approach to other operations, including ones in Australia and Chile.

“The Gen AI integration is multicultural, so non-technical users and the technical users can run scenarios in their first language,” he said, an aspect that he said is very important for the local companies at its operations.

Building foundations, collaboration key to AI usefulness

Tepponen was emphatic that AI alone wasn’t a “superhero.” BHP needed to specifically design these AI platforms in order to achieve these results.

“One of the most important lessons we have learned is we don’t actually get value from AI by starting with AI. The value comes from the foundations, consistent data standards, interoperability. You need to start at the bottom and make your way to the top.”

Tepponen also stressed the value of collaboration, noting that companies tend to be protective of their intellectual property, but opportunities are being missed that could be mutually beneficial.

“The hard truth is, no company can solve this problem of data fragmentation and system integration,” he said, and the industry would benefit from a collaborative approach on standards, interoperability and data throughout the value chain.

1. Chile

Copper production: 5.3 million metric tons

In 2025, Chile produced 5.3 million metric tons of copper, making it the world’s largest copper producing country with about 23 percent of the total global copper output. Its copper production dropped 210,000 MT in 2025 compared to its 2024 output. Chile also takes first place for copper reserves with 180 million MT.

Naturally, many of the world’s leading copper miners have substantial operations in Chile, including the state-owned Codelco, Anglo American (LSE:AAL,OTCQX:AAUKF), Glencore (LSE:GLEN,OTC Pink:GLCNF) and Antofagasta (LSE:ANTO,OTC Pink:ANFGF).

Chile is also home to BHP’s (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) Escondida, the largest copper mine in the world with an annual output in the 2 million metric ton range. BHP owns a 57.5 percent stake in the operation, with Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO) owning 30 percent and Jeco holding the remaining stake.

According to BHP’s 2025 annual report, the company’s portion of Escondida production came in at 1.13 million MT of copper in 2025.

Despite production disruptions at Codelco’s El Teniente, Chile’s copper production is expected to grow to 5.61 million MT in 2026, according to Chile’s copper industry watchdog Cochilco.

2. Democratic Republic of Congo

Copper production: 3.2 million metric tons

In 2025, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) produced 3.2 million metric tons of copper, accounting for nearly 14 percent of global copper output.

The DRC has rapidly increased its copper production in recent years, and its 2025 output marked a continuation of the trend, rising from 2.99 million MT the previous year.

One of the country’s largest copper operations is the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex, a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN,OTCQX:IVPAF) and Zijin Mining Group (HKEX:2899,SHA:601899,OTCPL:ZIJMF). The operation’s Phase 3 expansion commenced commercial production in August 2024.

In 2025, Kamoa-Kakula produced 388,838 MT of copper, a significant decrease from the 437,061 MT produced in 2024. While its copper output was supported by Phase 3, it was impacted by a temporary shutdown of sections of the mine in May 2025 after seismic activity and flooding occurred at the complex. On January 2, 2026, the company announced that it was proceeding to stage 3 dewatering as it works to ramp up production at the affected areas of the mine.

3. Peru

Copper production: 2.7 million metric tons

In 2025, Peru produced 2.7 million metric tons of copper, accounting for just below 12 percent of the world’s copper output. Its total is down a slight 40,000 MT from its copper output in 2024.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) operates Cerro Verde, the largest copper mine in Peru. In its Q4 2025 report, the company reported that the mine produced 863 million pounds of copper, equivalent to 391,450 MT. This was down from 949 million pounds in 2024.

Other significant copper operations in Peru include Anglo American’s (LSE:AAL,OTCQX:NGLOY) Quellaveco mine and Southern Copper’s (NYSE:SCCO) Tia Maria mine. The majority of copper produced in Peru is shipped to China and Japan, and South Korea and Germany are other top export destinations.

4. China

Copper production: 1.8 million metric tons

In 2025, China mined 1.8 million metric tons of copper, marginally lower than the 1.84 million metric tons produced in 2024. The country’s production hit a peak of 1.94 million MT in 2022.

While the country is fourth place for mine production, when it comes to refined copper production, China is by far the winner. In 2025, China’s refined copper production totaled 14 million metric tons, representing more than 48 percent of global refined copper production and six times the production of the DRC, the second highest refined copper producer.

Zijin Mining Group, a leading metal producer in China, owns a majority stake in the Qulong copper-molybdenum-silver-gold mine in Tibet, the largest copper mine in China.

Zijin reported the Qulong mine produced over 190,000 MT of copper in 2025. Phase 2 started production in January 2026, and is expected to raise its copper output to 300,000 MT in 2026.

5. Russia

Copper production: 1.3 million metric tons

Russia produced 1.3 metric tons of copper in 2025, a sizable increase from the 1.02 million MT produced the previous year.

One of the key contributions to the rise in Russian copper output is the ramp up of Phase 1 production at Udokan Copper’s Udokan mine in Siberia, which entered production in 2023. Phase 1 is expected to produce up to 135,000 MT of copper per year once fully online. This is expected to grow to 450,000 MT if Phase 2 enters production.

Although the copper hydrometallurgical plant at Udokan was delayed by fires in late 2023, copper mining was reported to be unaffected. Udokan pivoted to exporting its copper concentrate instead of refining it domestically, and in a September 2025 release, the company reported it had cumulatively exported 160,000 MT of copper equivalent since the start of production.

6. United States

Copper production: 1 million metric tons

The United States produced 1 million metric tons of copper in 2025. This was down slightly from 1.04 million MT of copper the prior year, and continued a downward trend from the 1.23 million MT the country produced in 2022.

The majority of US copper comes from Arizona, which accounts for 70 percent of domestic supply. Other states with significant copper output include Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and New Mexico. Overall, 17 mines are responsible for 99 percent of copper production in the United States.

Freeport McMoRan’s Morenci mine in Arizona, a joint venture with Sumitomo (OTC Pink:SSUMF,TSE:8053), is the largest copper mine in the US. According to Freeport’s Q4 2025 report, its combined US operations produced 1.3 billion pounds of copper over the course of the year, equivalent to 591,484 MT.

Other significant operations include Freeport’s Safford and Sierrita mines, at which copper production totaled 249 million MT and 165 million MT respectively.

7. Zambia

Copper production: 940,000 metric tons

In 2025, Zambia produced 940,000 metric tons of copper, up significantly from 823,000 MT in 2024. Production fell to 712,000 MT in 2023 after reaching 840,000 MT in 2021; however, over the last two years, production has rebounded.

There are four major mines that dominate the country’s copper production, including Barrick’s (TSX:ABX,NYSE:B) Lumwana and First Quantum Minerals’ (TSX:FM,OTCPL:FQVLF) Kansanshi.

According to First Quantum’s fourth quarter report, Kansanshi produced 181,183 MT of copper during 2025, up from 170,929 MT the prior year.

Mopani Copper Mines is another major copper producer in the country. While the company was previously owned by a joint venture between Glencore (LSE:GLEN,OTCPL:GLCNF) and First Quantum, the Zambian government, which previously held a 10 percent stake, acquired full ownership in 2021.

8. Australia

Copper production: 730,000 metric tons

In 2025, Australia produced 730,000 metric tons of copper, a slight decrease from the 765,000 MT produced in 2024.

The country’s largest copper operation is BHP’s Olympic Dam mine in South Australia. According to BHP’s annual report, its Australian operations produced 101,900 MT of copper in 2025, down from 106,300 MT in 2024.

The state of Queensland is home to the Mount Isa complex, run by a subsidiary of Glencore. While it was one of Australia’s largest copper producers, the operation was shuttered in July 2025 after a 70 year mine life.

Although it may have modest output compared to those at the top of the list, Australia holds the second highest copper reserves in the world at 100 million metric tons.

9. Indonesia

Copper production: 710,00 metric tons

In 2025, Indonesia produced 710,000 metric tons of copper. While the country’s output had been rising steadily in recent years, it plummeted last year from 1.01 million MT in 2024 due to an accident at the Grasberg copper-gold complex, the country’s largest copper mine.

Grasberg is a 51/48 joint venture between the Indonesian state-owned PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium and Freeport-McMoRan.

On September 8, 2025, a sudden ingress of wet materials at the mine’s primary Grasberg Block Cave killed seven workers. While Freeport was able to restart operations at unaffected portions of Grasberg during Q4 2025, the mine is unlikely to see full production return until sometime in 2027, with the companies projecting a 600,000 MT loss of contained copper by the end of 2026.

Another of the country’s largest operations is PT Amman Mineral’s (OTCPK:AMMNF,IDX:AMMN) Batu Hijau copper-gold mine. During the first nine months of 2025, the mine produced 145 million pounds of copper in concentrate, equivalent to about 65,770 MT. This marked a 51 percent decline from the same period in 2024 as Amman’s activities transitioned to Phase 8 of the operation. The company set full year 2025 copper guidance at 103,400 MT, and projected a significant increase to 220,000 MT in 2026.

10. Kazakhstan

Copper production: 710,000 metric tons

In 2025, Kazakhstan produced 710,000 metric tons of copper, slightly lower than the 724,000 MT produced in 2024. Still, Kazakhstan’s copper output has climbed substantially in recent years; it produced just 510,000 MT in 2021.

The nation plans to continue that trend, releasing a National Development Plan in February 2024 that aims to increase mineral production by 40 percent by 2029. The plan will involve increased exploration, project co-financing and tax incentives for investment.

Among the country’s largest mining companies is private firm KAZ Minerals, which owns the Aktogay mine. According to the company’s Q3 2025 production report, the mine produced 171,600 MT of copper during the first nine months of the year, in line with the 172,200 MT produced in 2024.

10. Mexico

Copper production: 690,000 metric tons

Rounding out our list of top copper producers, Mexico produced 690,000 metric tons of copper in 2025, a decrease from 2024’s 717,000 MT.

The country’s Sonora state holds Mexico’s two largest copper mines, Buenavista mine and La Caridad. Both mines are owned by Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO), a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico (OTC Pink:GMBXF,BMV:GMEXICOB).

According to the company’s Q4 2025 report, Buenavista produced 332,710 MT during the year, down from 348,960 MT in 2024.