I stumbled upon an article the other day that may be of some interest to all of you, but especially to my friends in #silvergoldstackers. This:
Forget about rare earth minerals. We need more copper
It seems, according to the article, that demand for copper has surged these past few years, with the price up almost 75% since 2020. Copper mines in Chile, Peru, and the Republic of the Congo are struggling to meet demand, and experts are warning that this shortage could be a major concern.
Copper is more important than you might think. The circuit boards in your computers and phones as well as other electronic components need copper to function. Nearly 90% of circuit boards is copper. Without it, none of these computers we as a planet have become addicted to work.
In addition, EV cars use more copper than gas-powered ones, meaning as the world slowly switches over, demand for copper will only go up.
It gets worse. Not only are there not enough copper mines in the world, but experts say the existing mines have no more high-grade copper and that as a result they will need to increasingly go after lower-grade copper, meaning less total copper produced.
China did open a new mine last year (after 16 years of delays), so that's something. The US is planning on a few new mines in Arizona and Minnesota, but these are running into delays and legal challenges. Whew
Well, anyway, go read the full article. Once again: Forget about rare earth minerals. We need more copper
What's this mean for us? Well, hold on to your pennies—well, at least the pennies before 1982 when they were mostly copper—or the lowest value coins in your country, which are likely copper at least in part or used to be.
If the price of copper goes up, those pennies may actually be worth a decent amount!
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David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Mastodon. |
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I used to have a nugget from the mines in Michigan floating around somewhere. I'm not sure what happened to it.
Thanks an interesting looking piece...
I grab a bunch of copper scrap on jobs. I’ve been packing it away for a while now. At some point maybe this summer I’ll have a chance to melt some into bars.
And that is why I am hoarding up the old pennies from a recently discovered source at well under the cost to acquire it, actually at a little more than face value. I believe there is a Sprott Copper ETF I was sniffing around that could be a good commodity play.
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There are a lot of copper mines in the US that have been delayed for years by environmentalists objections, including a major one in New Mexico. I read yesterday in Chile that they have an area rick in copper and cobalt that the US is helping to fund restarting the mine which has been dormant for 80 years. They recognize the need to get other suppliers other than China.
In New Mexico I used to go out to a "secret" spot where you could literally pick up raw copper off of the ground. I used to pick those things up and sell them for five bucks a pop on eBay, nowadays they would probably go for twenty dollars or more. The US is rich in minerals, but mining them is difficult due to over regulation.
World big players are lining up to be in thew "first" row.
Haven't we discover "other" ways to mine these minerals without a huge environmental cost? Or is it technically/economically impossible to access, mine and purify in a “cleaner” way?