Abstract: Yangtze River Economic Belt holds an important and strategic position in Chinese copper resources development because of its copper resources fertility for potential development.So in current situation,the planning of copper exploration,mining,and the development of downstream industry in Yangtze River Economic Belt is critical both for the secured supply of Chinese copper resources and for the ecological civilization construction.This paper,based on industry layout theory,systematically summaries the current situation and characteristics of copper industry layout and industry structure Yangtze River Economic Belt in terms of resources exploration,mining and utilization,and points out the problems existing in Yangtze River Economic Beltcooper exploration,mining and development including the improper industry structure,too small overall company size,and the serious damage to geological environment,and then proposes to optimize the copper industry development in Yangtze River Economic Belt in three aspects,including the optimization of copper exploration and mining structure,promote the green mining development,and to realize the coordinated development of upper,middle and downstream copper industry.