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1) According to the USGS and its published annual mineral commodity summaries, yahoo finance put together a list of the top 20 countries with the most copper reserves. Starting at number 20, is our neighbors to the north, Canada with an estimated 7.6 million metric tons. Canada's reserves are located primarily in British Columbia, Ontario and Newfoundland. This is followed by Brazil (9.6 million metric tons), Pakistan (12.3 million metric tons), Turkey (15.8 million metric tons), Namibia (18 million metric tons) and Zambia (19 million metric tons) rounding out spots 19 - 15. At number 14 is Kazakhstan with 20 million metric tons and Indonesia is in 13th place with Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg mine and the country's estimated 24 million metric tons. China has about 27 million metric tons putting it in 12th place, followed by Poland with 30 million metric tons and finally the Congo coming in at 10th place and its 31 million metric tons. Finally, coming in 9th place, the United States places with 44 million metric tons, with the majority coming from Morenci and Safford Arizona. This is followed by India (46 million metric tons), Mexico (53 million metric tons) and Afghanistan (60 million metric tons). Rounding out the top 5 countries are Mongolia (61.4 million metric tons), Russia (62 million metric tons), Peru (81 million metric tons), Australia (97 million metric tons) and finally and without surprise, Chile (190 million metric tons) providing about a third of the global supply.
2) Japanese mining companies are discouraged to invest in Chile's mining sector as they see higher taxes as potentially discouraging. According to the head of a Japanese industry body, the new taxes will create hesitation for new mining projects in the country, but would not lead them to quit the existing projects. "Higher tax won't lead to withdrawal from existing mines, but it may have an impact on new development projects," Akira Nozaki, the chairman of the Japan Mining Industry Association told Reuters in an interview. "Obviously, profitability will decline due to higher tax, making new mining development increasingly difficult," he said.