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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries
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To: TobagoJack who wrote (65807)7/2/2005 11:39:27 AM
From: Slagle  Read Replies (3) of 74559
 
TobagoJack Re: "Don Coxe" Coxe states that copper and nickle may be in short supply for a long time to come due to demand from China, more that steel, oil or anything else.

With copper I am sure what he means is the need for copper wiring in the low voltage branch circuits in residences and elsewhere, including factories and commercial. This will be a vast amount of copper if there are going to be large numbers of modern houses and buildings, with internal wiring, constructed all over China.

Something I wonder about though. In China you use 220 volts for the branch wiring, right? I think you do in Hong Kong and also in China itself, right? Your outlets there are 220 volt as opposed to the 115 volts we use here, right?

If so, that means that for a given house or other facility you use HALF THE POUNDS OF COPPER that we would use here in the USA for a similar facility. I wonder if these folks who are speculating on the future demand there take that into consideration.

Branch wiring is about the only really large use of copper that there is. Other large uses include electric motors and small transformers but that is about it. There are chemical uses but I think they use partially refined copper ores for that. Telecom and electronics use some but much less than branch wiring I think. These guys thinking big future demand for copper are thinking wiring for houses and businesses mainly I would imagine.

For your high voltage transmission lines around the country (including the overhead wires in your neighborhood) you don't use copper; there steel or aluminum wire is used.

As for nickel, that mainly is used for stainless steel. Wonder where all that stainless is going? Industrial uses I guess.

Any ideas on any good investments in copper?
Slagle
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