It is of practical significance for surveying and assessing tailings resources. According to the relation of the chosen mineral and the processing mineral and the tailings production, we established the principle of investigating tailings resources, and estimated that the copper tailings resources are about 1.5 billion tons and the content of copper is about 0.077%. At the same time, based on the thought of profit and loss balance, we constructed the economic model for analyzing tailings resources, and estimated that the economic grade is 0.07% for recycling single copper element if the copper price is not less than 35000 yuan per ton, and that makes it possible for making use of part of copper tailings resources at the present time. Resource structure determines the mode of its utilization. Based on the results of investigation and evaluation, it found that the main modes for copper tailings’comprehensive utilization include selecting again and used for mining filling or building materials in the future in China. According to the model, in order to further promote copper tailings resources development and utilization, it is not only necessary to release related information about tailings resource, but also necessary to work out a series of favorable policies, and then eliminate any restricted factor about making use of tailings resources.