New uses of copper

Thousands of years after being discovered by humans, copper has become integral part of our civilization. And it has a future.

How will the future world be? There are many things that cannot be predicted and others that are unavoidable: more energy will be consumed and this must be generated in an efficient way, the demand for information technology will grow as will that for the transportation of people and goods, our need for comfort and security and our concern for the environment and human health.

Copper may be very useful in the world of the future. Its properties include high conductivity, recyclability and resistance to corrosion. Also, one of the main concerns of Codelco is to minimize the environmental impact of its production.

A key to understand the future position of copper is though the application of its properties to uses reflecting the progress of civilization, in areas such as superconductivity, high speed data transmission, microchip manufacture, solar energy and the storage of nuclear wastes.

Copper´s high conductivity is a key quality, since it makes possible a more efficient use of energy, thus adding not only to the quality of the products that incorporate it, but also to the ecological aim of burning less fossil fuel to prevent climatic change.

Also, its high conductivity will serve to transmit more efficiently the energy generated by alternative non polluting sources. It is also possible to foresee its use in environmentally friendly products, such as electrical vehicles.

In the case of data transmission, particularly for Internet, the introduction of a new technology known as DSL has allowed to increase copper wire capacity. The new system has made a strong entry to markets and its use as alternative connectivity will grow, since it allows to use available infrastructure which is reflected in its costs

In the case of microprocessors, the manufacturers of these tiny wonders have already chosen copper as material to build new high speed models, thanks to its properties of electrical and thermal conductivity. It is highly likely that copper will be part of mosts of the chips that will flood the future.

Together with the promotion of new uses and the foreseeable expansion of the demand associated to economic and social progress, the future poses the challenge of openening new markets. Currently, the commercialization strategists follow closely the evolution of copper consumption in countries like China and India.

The industrial world consumes between 10 and 20 kilograms of copper per person, ten times more than the developing world.

But consumption could increase. The 137 million coimputers a year of 2000 will become 220 million in 2005, which will use 550 thousand tons of copper. Cell phones will go from 405 to 926 million units, containing 720 million tons of copper.

Will there be enough copper to meet the the demands of the future? Codelco is permanently performing exploration activities searching for new deposits in the Chilean Andes, where the largest copper reserves are located.

On the other hand the mining sector is constantly undergoing technological change, which besides increasing efficiency makes it possible for Codelco to exploit lower grade deposits.

But even if the copper extracted from deposits were to become scarce...copper is an element that can be recycled almost without limit.