Native copper - that is, pure copper - is found in veins disseminated in granite in Cornwall and North Wales; but the most abundant English ore of copper is copper pyrites or yellow copper ore, which is a double sulphide containing copper, iron, and sulphur, and is generally associated with arsenical iron pyrites, tinstone, quartz, fluorspar, and clay. A purer variety of pyrites is peacock ore, or variegated copper ore, which is found at St. Austell and Killarney. Another abundant ore is grey copper ore, which is a compound of the sulphides of copper and iron with those of antimony and arsenic; but it often contains lead, zinc, and sufficient silver to render the extraction of the latter a matter of great importance. Copper glance is another important Cornish ore; it is a chemical compound of copper and sulphur, and is generally free from other metals. Red copper ore consists of copper and oxygen, and differs from the preceding ores in being free from sulphur; green malachite, which is not much found in England, is a basic carbonate of copper.

These are all English ores, but Great Britain also imports copper sand, a mixture of metallic copper and quartz; and indigo copper, so named from its dark blue colour, from Chili: and blue malachite from Australia. The following table shows the proportion of copper in the ores above.