Copper is one of the oldest obsolete metals invented by human beings. As early as 3000 years ago, people began to use copper. Copper atomic weight 63.54, density 8.92, melting point 1083 C, boiling point 2567 C. Pure copper is light rose or reddish, and copper oxide film is formed on the surface, and copper color on the surface. Copper has many valuable physical and chemical properties, such as high thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity, strong chemical stability, high tensile strength, easy welding, corrosion resistance, plasticity and ductility. Pure copper can be drawn into very thin copper wire and made into very thin copper foil. Copper can be alloyed with zinc, tin, lead, manganese, cobalt, nickel, aluminium, iron and other metals.

Copper is a typical sulfophilic element, which constitutes sulfide in nature. As long as oxides are formed under strong oxidation conditions, natural copper can be formed under recovery conditions. Later, more than 250 kinds of copper minerals and copper-bearing minerals have been discovered in the crust, such as sulfides and similar compounds, oxides of copper, sulfates, carbonates and silicates of natural copper and copper. Among them, there are 16 kinds of minerals which can be used as property minerals in the future. Namely, natural elements: natural copper; copper sulfide: chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcopyrite, chalcopyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenic tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite; copper oxide: hematite, chalcopyrite; copper sulfate, carbonate and silicate minerals: malachite, blue copper ore, silica malachite, galena, chalcopyrite.