Everything You Need to Know About Copper - Introduction
Copper is one of the most important commodities in the market. Its use is increasing as the world moves from combustion engine powered vehicles to electric cars. It is also one of the most important commodities to trade for traders. Here is everything you need to know about copper.
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- How Copper is Mined
Copper is found across the earth’s crust. It is often mined as a mixture of other metals like zinc and lead. Miners use mostly the open-pit or other underground mining techniques with the former accounting for more than 90% of copper production. When the ore is too deep, the underground method is used. After mining, the ore is processed to ensure high quality.
- Where Copper Comes From
Most of the copper is mined from Chile which accounts for more than 27% of total global production. Other major producers are Peru, China, Congo, Kazakhstan, and Australia.
- The Process from Ore to Useable Copper
To become usable copper, it passes through several steps. The first is mining where extractors use the methods I described above to mine the ore. After this, producers convert the concentrates to create pure copper. Then, a process known as semi-fabrication is done to convert the copper to semi-useable products like wire rods and sheets. It is then fabricated to the specification of the customers.
- Uses of Copper
Copper is known for its quality as one of the best conductors of electricity. As such, it is mostly used in equipment like mobile phones, computers, and refrigerators. It is also used in infrastructure projects such as electricity transmission. Construction companies use the copper in the construction of houses, and other properties. Apart from its conductive properties, they use it because of its other qualities like its resistance to corrosion. It is also used in the automotive industry. Most of this use will come from the electric vehicles which need a lot of copper. Finally, it is used in industries. The chart below shows the different uses of the commodity.
Everything You Need to Know About Copper - Useful Links:
- To find out more, please, go to Commodity.com;
- Another useful reading on FXCM;
- Please, visit NASDAQ for further information.
