heavy metal charts higher

Copper is used all over the world, global demand is rising, and the price of metals has never been so high.
Australia is a huge producer of mine miners.
Richard Webb reports.
Copper is everywhere.
Look at the coins in your pocket-
5 cents to 50 cents.
% Pieces contain 75% copper;
There are 92 cents for $1 and $2 coins.
An ordinary house has 90 kilograms of copper, mainly wires and pipes.
There are 25 kilograms of this metal in an ordinary car.
Thousands of kilometers of copper wire were crammed into the country\'s electricity and telephone lines.
8 tons per Boeing 747 aircraft.
If you have an old roll
Royce Silver Ghost, which is almost entirely copper, includes an engine made of brass, an alloy made of 70 cents of copper and 30 cents of zinc.
Copper is essential.
With the development of economy, the consumption of copper is also growing.
Australia uses about 8 kilograms of copper per person per year.
About two kilograms in China, about 500 grams in India.
Copper consumption in China and India is rising sharply.
China now uses a quarter of world production and will eventually reach Australia\'s output.
Head consumption.
When you multiply that number by the total population of China and India.
3 billion. It is easy to understand why global copper demand has soared and will last for decades.
Economic growth in China and India is driving copper prices to record levels, but that is not the only reason --
Copper is also a new technology.
The computer is full of these things.
On boards and lines.
Copper will soon be used to produce the fastest computer chip in the world.
Copper is also a key material for electrical appliances such as mobile phones, ipod, gaming machines and aviation.
Air conditioning and plasma TV.
Demand for copper in traditional manufacturing industries such as automobiles is also rising.
Fifteen years ago, there was copper in the starter motor and wires of an ordinary car and in brass products.
Nowadays, there are electric motors in windows, antennas and mirrors, all copper cables, and electronic and power accessories everywhere.
A luxury car will use about 1500 copper wires, totaling about 1.
Five kilometers, 100 times that of ten years ago.
Hybrid cars use more copper again for the additional electrical components they contain.
Copper prices have almost doubled over the past year to more than $2. 60 ($A3. 60)
One pound, in part because copper production is still unable to keep up with supply despite the massive expansion of copper mines around the world.
According to the statistics of the International Copper Research Group, the output of refined copper increased by 8 year on year.
4 to 17.
Global copper usage increased by 1 million tons last year.
3 to 17.
4 million tons.
Production is expected to increase this year.
6 points to 18 points.
1 million tons, still below the expected copper consumption of 18.
2 million tons.
Last week\'s data on global copper inventories showed that reserve demand was only three days.
These figures illustrate why BHP announced last week that it would spend five billion dollars ($A7 billion)
Expand copper and uranium mines at the Olympic Dam in southern Australia.
It is estimated that the mine contains 39 million tons of copper mine, and BHP Billiton is expected to mine at a rate of 500,000 tons per year starting from 2013.
BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were the first. 1 and No.
By market value and in some way, there are two mining companies in the world
They are worth more than a billion dollars, equivalent to the sum of the next five mining companies.
Both companies have big copper.
BHP Billiton is world the second
Fourth largest producer and Rio Tinto.
They have a large amount of copper assets in Australia and huge copper assets overseas.
The world\'s largest copper mine is located in the desert of Atacama, Chile.
This huge opening
Pit operation employs about 5000 permanent employees and contractors, and reserves about 1 person.
8 billion tons of copper ore with an average grade of 1.
Copper 6%.
BHP has 57.
Rio Tinto accounted for the mine.
The companies are also involved in a huge copper discovery recently discovered in the Arizona desert mountains in the United States.
Early predictions of the finding suggest that at an average copper price of 90 cents per pound, the mine could generate $85 to $.
This is not bad. The current price of copper is nearly three times that of this price.
It is likely to start production in 2015.
The rest of Rio Tinto\'s resources are owned by BHP Billiton.
Gorein Gorey, a commodities analyst at the Commonwealth Bank, said that although copper prices hit a record high, it may rise another five cents to the highest level in the dollar.
£ 70 per pound in a few weeks
His prediction is based on supply.
The world\'s largest pension fund buys commodity futures.
\"Investors are increasingly looking to hold commodities as an asset,\" he said . \"
\"A few years ago, commodity holdings could reach between $5 and $10, but now they have grown to $80, and the process is not over.
\"Mr Gorey has seen the forecast that this investment will double again next year.
\"Large pension funds and mutual trust funds in the United States and Japan are seeking to diversify into other assets, which adds a whole new level of demand,\" he said . \".
\"These prices have been going up for a while, and eventually more supplies will come from miners, but whether they are fast enough is another matter.
\"Copper is one of the most recycled materials in the world because it has no loss around the second and third --
The form of recycling cannot be distinguished from primary copper.
The global demand for copper is met by recycled materials, and Australia plays an important role through the Sims Group, the world\'s largest metal recycler.
As copper prices rise, copper recycling is booming.