Why did large Bronze Age civilizations arise in places without native copper and tin supplies? Why not in places that did?

Reading about the ancient world, I've been often surprised by how often crucial or precious metals and other resources come from places that weren't controlled by the large, classic civilizations we like to study -the British Isles were a source of tin, as was ancient Afghanistan; copper was mined in Cyprus; Celtic Spain was a major source of silver, the Romans imported their steel from what's now Austria, and so on. If metalworking is one of the hallmarks of civilization, why did it arise in Sumer, or Egypt, and why didn't Cyprus etc develop large, powerful civilizations? Was the land just not suited to the necessary large scale agriculture necessary for big cities? Is there any rhyme or reason to the rise of civilizations, or is it essentially random?