Producer

Yunnan Copper Co., Ltd.

HQ CN · Yunnanwebsite ↗

Chinese state-owned copper producer (SHEX: 000878; HQ Kunming, Yunnan Province); major Chinese copper smelter/refiner with cathode capacity exceeding 800,000 tonnes per year. Yunnan Copper is the dominant industrial employer in Yunnan Province's copper belt and operates several smelting facilities in the province. The company has diversified internationally, including minority stakes in copper mining projects in the DRC and Myanmar — connecting Chinese refining capacity to African and Southeast Asian ore supply. Yunnan Copper's proximity to Myanmar's Letpadaung copper mine (via cross-border supply) and the sensitive geopolitical context of Sino-Myanmar resource relationships gives Yunnan Copper a unique geopolitical footprint.

3

Inputs supplied

1

Goods downstream

1

Facilities

0

Stories

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3 inputs Yunnan Copper Co., Ltd. supplies

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Business segments

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  • Copper Cathode Smelting

    65%
  • Copper Products

    20%
  • Precious Metals Recovery

    10%
  • Sulfuric Acid (Byproduct)

    5%

Intelligence

What's known

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  • Did you know2022

    Yunnan Copper sources copper concentrate from Myanmar through the Yunnan-Myanmar supply corridor — including from Chinese-owned copper mining joint ventures in Myanmar (notably the Monywa copper project, operated by Wanbao Mining, a PLA-linked Chinese company). Myanmar's 2021 military coup placed these operations under Western human rights scrutiny and sanctions considerations. Yunnan Copper is thus simultaneously a civilian copper supply chain actor (processing copper for EVs, electronics, renewable energy) AND a participant in a supply chain that runs through a Myanmar military junta-associated mining operation. The clean energy supply chain and the sanctioned-entity supply chain share the same Yunnan smelting complex.

    Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
  • Origin2023

    Yunnan Copper was established in the 1950s as a state enterprise in Kunming to develop Yunnan Province's historically significant copper resources — the province has been mined for copper since the Han Dynasty (~200 BCE) and records of Yunnan copper are found in ancient Chinese texts. The modern company processes both domestic Yunnan ore and copper concentrate imported via the Yunnan-Myanmar transport corridor, which connects the province to Myanmar's copper deposits. Yunnan's border position has made it China's gateway for Southeast Asian mineral imports since the ancient "Southern Silk Road" trade route.

    Yunnan Copper Co Ltd