I remember spending my first 10 hours in No Man’s Sky wandering random planets begging for copper to build my first hyperdrive upgrade, missing obvious sources right in front of me. I’d dig through random rock piles for 10 minutes just to get 20 units, not realizing I could have scanned the planet from space first to confirm it even had copper. If you’re stuck hunting for this versatile, high-demand resource, you’re not alone. We’ve broken down every reliable way how to get copper in No Man’s Sky, no fancy late-game gear required for most methods. Copper is used for everything from basic base building parts to advanced tech upgrades and profitable trade commodities, so having a steady supply cuts down on so much unnecessary grind.
How to Get Copper in No Man’s Sky: Surface Scanning for New Players
This is the most accessible method for players who are still working through the early game story and haven’t unlocked advanced mining or base building gear yet. First, always scan planets from your starship before you land to check their resource list. Copper will appear clearly in the resource roster if it’s available on the planet, so you don’t waste launch fuel flying down to a world that has none. You’ll almost always find copper on rocky, arid, or temperate biomes, so skip frozen, irradiated, or fully oceanic planets entirely if you’re hunting for this specific resource.
Once you land, pull out your analysis visor and ping the surrounding area to look for copper deposit markers, which show up as bright yellow icons. Don’t waste time digging small copper chunks out of regular rock, it’s far slower than targeting dedicated deposits. Large, angular yellow rock formations sticking out of the ground are almost always large copper veins, and you can get 300 to 700 units of copper from a single vein with just the basic mining laser. If you’re struggling to find deposits, stick to higher elevation areas like mountain ridges, copper spawns far more frequently above ground level than in low-lying valleys.
Farming Copper from Large Deposit Nodes with Advanced Gear
Once you unlock the terrain manipulator and advanced mining laser upgrades around 10 to 15 hours into the main story, you can access far larger copper stores that will cover all your long-term needs. Deep copper deposits show up as orange markers on your analysis visor, and they hold 1,500 to 3,000 units of copper per node, so you can fill your entire inventory in just a few minutes of mining. These deposits are buried a few meters below the surface, so you’ll need to use your terrain manipulator to dig down to them before you can start mining.
If you want to fully eliminate copper mining from your routine, use your survey scanner to find copper hotspots. These permanent resource zones let you set up automated copper extractors linked to supply depots, which will farm copper for you even when you’re off exploring other parts of the galaxy. You can collect thousands of units of copper every few hours just by fast traveling back to your base. The only downside to this method is that you need to unlock survey tech and base building parts first, but it’s well worth the effort if you plan to build a lot of bases or craft high-end tech regularly. I set up my first copper farm 20 hours into my playthrough, and I haven’t had to manually mine copper since.
Alternative Ways to Get Copper Without Mining
Not everyone enjoys wandering planets to mine resources, and that’s totally fine. There are multiple low-effort ways to get copper that don’t require you to pull out your mining laser at all, and many of them fit perfectly with other playstyles focused on trading, mission running, or exploration.
- Trade with NPCs at space stations or trading posts: Copper is a common mid-tier resource, and most NPC merchants sell stacks of 250 to 500 units for a fairly low price, especially if you have a trade discount upgrade on your exosuit. You can also trade excess rare resources like activated indium for copper if you’re short on units and don’t want to spend time mining.
- Loot reward containers and crashed ships: Almost every reward crate from abandoned buildings, planetary outposts, or destroyed sentinel drones has a small chance to drop copper. Crashed freighters often have large stacks of copper in their storage containers, so it’s worth looting those if you pass one while exploring a system.
- Refine other common resources into copper: If you have a medium or large refiner, you can turn cadmium and ferrite dust into copper at a 1:2 ratio, or use pyrite and oxygen to get even higher yields. This is a great option if you’re swimming in other resources but don’t want to travel to a copper-rich planet mid-exploration run.
Which of these methods works best depends entirely on how you play the game. If you spend most of your time running trade routes or completing NPC missions, buying copper from space station merchants is way faster than stopping to mine. The refining method is my go-to when I’m on a long exploration run far from a copper-rich planet, I usually have stacks of extra ferrite dust lying around from clearing terrain for temporary base builds, so turning that into copper takes 30 seconds and no extra travel.
Pro Tips to Maximize Your Copper Farming Efficiency
No matter which method you use to get copper, there are a few small tweaks you can make to cut down on grind and get more copper in less time. First, equip the resource scanner upgrade on your analysis visor, it increases the range you can detect copper deposits by 300%, so you don’t have to wander the planet for hours looking for veins. You can buy this upgrade from most space station technology merchants for a very low price early in the game.
If you set up an automated copper farm, build it within range of a base teleporter so you can fast travel to it whenever you need to restock, no need to fly across the galaxy to collect your resources. That means you can spend less time hunting for resources and more time doing the parts of the game you actually enjoy, whether that’s exploring new planets, fighting sentinels, or building elaborate bases. If you play in multiplayer, you can also ask friends if you can use their existing copper extractor farms, most players are happy to let visitors collect resources for free. I once got 10,000 copper in 10 minutes by visiting a friend’s large copper farm when I was first starting out, it saved me hours of grinding for my first freighter upgrades.
Don’t hoard more copper than you need, either. It only takes up valuable inventory space, and you can always get more quickly using any of the methods we covered. I keep a stack of 1,000 copper in my exosuit at all times for emergency repairs and temporary builds, and leave the rest stored in my base supply depot for larger crafting projects.
You don't have to spend hours wandering barren planets to stock up on this useful resource. Whether you're a new player just learning how to get copper in No Man's Sky or a veteran traveler looking to cut down on grind, there's a method that fits your playstyle perfectly. Try out a few of the options we covered to find what works best for you, and you'll never run out of copper for your building, crafting, or trade needs again. I still keep a small stack of 1000 copper in my exosuit at all times, just in case I need to make a quick repair or build a temporary base on a new planet.
