Posted on 05/12/2006 7:43:30 PM PDT by berkeleybeej
Copper prices are currently at all-time highs. Copper prices have increased from US$0.63/lb Cu when Equinox acquired Lumwana, and averaged US$1.85/lb Cu in October-2005 when the Lumwana Difinitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”) was completed. Copper prices are currently over US$2.30/lb (Feb 2006).
Copper markets are cyclical, typically with periods of high copper prices that last for 4 to 7 years, followed by similar periods of low copper prices. The upswing in the current copper cycle commenced in late-2003 and continues strongly . The present cyclical uptrend can be attributed in large measure to the rapid industrial growth of China, India, Russia and Brazil. There is typically an inverse relationship between copper prices and copper stockpiles or inventories for sale in the metal warehouses such as the LME and Comex. These inventories continue to be at record lows as global consumption continues to remain strong.
(Excerpt) Read more at equinoxminerals.com ...
Guess what? Vendors wouldn't honor their quotes -- they would only honor quotes for 2 hours!!!
What in the world is going on with copper?
I don't know what it is. But it is affecting a lot of metals. Crime is up - stealing scrap metal. Maybe just Iranian war jitters.
It's sort of a semi-precious metal, in high demand with tight supplies. Pretty much indispensible for a lot of uses. Wanna win a bar bet? Ask which metal has the best electrical conductivity. Most people will say gold, but it's actually silver, which equals 100 on the conductivity scale. But copper is a workable substitute - good conductivity, but not the price of silver or gold. For a while local code allowed aluminum wiring. Not anymore.
As the article correctly states...
The solution to High Commodity prices is High commodity prices
But the Left is continually amazed and perpetually surprised with that.
We wouldn't honor any of our quotes until an order was actually placed and we had a firm delivery date on the raw material.
It sucked for a while but the solution to the high prices was the high prices.
Strange world, eh?
L
The left is populated by idiots...
/shrug
Take a look at what Steel has done in the last three years!
TT
Too many safety issues with dis-similar metals, loosening conntections, and hot spots. Aluminum is used extensively, however, by the utility industry since it is very light and very cheap (compared to copper). It doesn't conduct as well as copper, but it's so light, that a significantly larger wire can be used and still put less load on poles and insulators.
Steel is another pain in my life. One of the guys is constantly basing his purchase req's on foreign steel prices - I've explained to him that we just can't get it --American steel is twice the price, but that is all that is available.
Article 2 weeks ago talked about that specifically.
They said if copper goes much higher, they'll start minting steel nickles.
In two words, Asian demand.
everything you wanted to know about copper but were afraid to ask
Government stockpiles were eliminated in 1993.
Extremely high demand from construction here and overseas.
Right, that's why I specified local code - it's actually pretty good if setup right. The outlet boxes that are sold today are pretty skimpy... what's up with UL is another question... I think anyone with a printer can put a UL sticker on stuff these days, sheesh.
gold and silver are nice, but who really uses them on a large scale? But copper... There's a lot of folks in Butte who should be coming out of retirement about now I'd hope. .02c
erm pennies...sorry :)
There are no inventories of copper - that's the problem.
There are some beautiful copper stock plays in the market - huge upside - in the near term, that is!
;^)
All commodities are going up because there are more buyers than sellers. It's that simple.
We are constructing a new building at our church and some dirtbag posing as a worker one weekend came in and stole $12,000 worth of wiring.
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