ABSTRACT
People's Republic of China's consumption of the elusive "colored" metal copper may well have reached 300,000 metric tons annually, which is of some consequence by world standards. Historically, no copper mine in China has ever been suggested as being larger than 20,000 tons of mine copper yearly. China's lead and zinc supplies derived from indigenous materials appear to be even weaker than copper, because mines do not seem to be any larger or as numerous and scrap metal is less abundant, particularly in the case of zinc. Chinese miners had worked lead-silver ores in northern Burma and Vietnam for centuries, leaving many slag dumps. Expansion of power generation and transmission facilities in China has greatly increased demand for aluminum and copper. China undoubtedly has extensive tungsten resources, probably the largest in the world. Chinese bismuth is mainly a byproduct of the tungsten from Kiangsi Province and various nonferrous operations.
