Copper is one of the three most important metals in the world
economy, and the only one of the three that is comparatively scarce
in the earth's crust. Known reserves will only last a few decades
at projected rates of consumption. While some substitution
possibilities exist for some of its applications, copper is
uniquely valuable as a conductor of electricity in a world that is
rapidly electrifying. This fact makes the copper life cycle an
appropriate subject for holistic analysis. This book, which
includes a quantitative demand forecasting model, is based on a
study commissioned by the International Institute for Environment
and Development (IIED) for the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (WBCSD) fills that need for the first time.
Among the conclusions of the study are the following. The
medium-term prospects for copper producers and copper consuming
industries include (1) more intensive exploration into more remote
regions, (2) utilization of lower grade ores resulting in more mine
wastes and associated waste disposal problems, (3) more intensive
mining efficient ore reduction processes, (4) dramatic price
increases when the current glut works itself out, (5) significant
changes in the patterns of consumption (increasingly electrical
applications), (6) sharp increases in the need for recovering and
recycling old scrap copper in the future, (7) a significant buildup
of copper and by-products (especially arsenic) either in use or in
the human environment. Similar implications can be drawn for two
other scarce and toxic metals - lead and zinc - often found in
geological association with copper.
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