Without copper, it would be impossible to make electronics. It’s definitely one of the rare and important resources in Fallout 76 – especially for new players who lack mining tools. But despite the shortage, copper is still a farmable item that can be collected through three different methods: mining, scrapping, and refining.
Read this guide to learn all of these techniques and farm copper like a veteran Fallout 76 survivor.
How to Farm Copper Ore in Fallout 76
Plant copper, mine veins, build extractors on copper mines or dismantle junk items. The first two methods, mining and extraction, produce copper ore, which must be smelted into scrap at the chem bench. But a third farming technique, scrapping, can provide usable copper nuggets.
1. Mining copper veins
Copper veins are mineral resources on rocky outcrops, caves or mines. To grow copper, find these veins and mine them regularly. The best locations for copper mining are Solomon’s Pond, outcrops near White Springs Station and the bunker, and rocky areas near Abandoned Mineshaft 2.
Radiation location
Number of copper veins
north of solomon’s pond
10
Southwest of White Springs Bunker
9
east of whitespring station
9
Abandoned Mine Southeast 2
8
Hornwright Air Purifier Site #03 SW
7
Northeast of the AMS Proving Grounds
6
Abandoned Mine Southeast 1
6
east of welch
6
2. Extraction of Copper from Items
Scrap on the workbench to get copper pieces. The best items for this farming method are the Power Magnet, Prewar Lamp, and Horn, each providing 3 Copper Shards. But other lucrative junk is decorative vases, brass miner’s lamps, power relay coils, and sensor modules.
Copper Containing Items
scrap copper
strong magnet
3
headlights
3
trumpet
3
ornamental vase
2
chalcopyrite lamp
2
beaker holder
2
power relay coil
2
sensor module
2
Telephone
1
fuse
1
broken light bulb
1
3. Building copper camps on the deposit
The best way to grow copper in Fallout 76 is to place a resource extractor on top of a copper deposit in a workshop. Dabney Homestead is an ideal location as it supports up to 3 extractors, each producing 20 copper ore per hour.
copper workshop
Number of extractors
Dabney Homes
3
Billings Homes
1
charleston landfill
1
Grafton Steel Works
1
wade airport
1
Copper extractors have a maximum capacity of 10 ore per unit, which means they must be emptied every 30 minutes. Otherwise, they will miss their goal of 20 ore per hour.
how to multiply the results of copper farms
Wearing excavator power armor is a way to increase copper mine production. This set quadruples the minerals extracted, turning each mined ore into four. Another way is to equip the Super Duper perk, which increases the chance of getting a Duper by 30%.
Fallout 76 is available now for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.