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Copper - the red metal
Copper has been used for over 7,000 years. Today worldwide copper consumption continues to increase every year. The mining industry is struggling to find new supplies of this critical component of modern industry.
Copper is traded around the world with the principal trading occurring on the London Metal Exchange.
Commercial sources of copper are found in deposits formed under the earth's surface as the result of early volcanic disturbances. Primary ores, called sulphide ores, formed when molten solutions flowed into the earth's crust. Secondary ores, called oxide ores, were formed as weather and other natural forces altered ancient rocks. Both sulphide and oxide ores are mined and processed to extract copper metal. After hundreds of years of exploration and mining, new copper deposits are becoming much more difficult to find.
Wiring - Connecting the World
Copper has several important properties: high ductility; malleability; and electrical conductivity, each of which make it a "natural" for electrical wiring. More than any other non-precious metal, it is the best conductor of electricity, packing more power into a given diameter of wire than any substitute material. Electrical uses include power transmission and generation, wires for residential and commercial buildings, telecommunications and electrical products.
Plumbing, Heating and Cooling
For the last 100 years, copper tubing has been the most reliable and cost effective option for distributing water to and throughout residential and commercial buildings. Copper tubing is also widely used in air conditioning and refrigeration systems due to its high thermal conductivity which is about eight times more efficient than that of aluminum tubing.
Technology - Computer Chips
Manufacturers of computer chips rely on copper to link transistors. By substituting higher conductivity copper for aluminum, chip makers can create more efficient and faster products. In addition to increasing a chip's speed, use of copper helps limit heat generation, a problem which will grow as more circuits are packed into a single chip.
Automobiles
There are more than 55 pounds of copper in a typical U.S.-built automobile: about 45 pounds for electrical and about 10 pounds for non-electrical components. Thanks to continuing improvements in electronics and the addition of power accessories, today's luxury autos, on average, contain some 1,500 copper wires totalling about one mile in length. New hybrid cars contain approximately 100 pounds of copper. In 1948, the average family car contained only about 55 wires with an average total length of 150 feet
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