Metals with a high copper content, like brass, can also be effective at neutralizing viruses.
However, the benefit from high copper prices could be mitigated if manufacturers choose to substitute aluminum for copper to cut costs.
FORBES: Costly King Copper Could Turn Freeport Into A Pauper
One worthy question, however, is whether the current high copper prices sustainable.
FORBES: Grasberg's Copper Quality Could Cost Freeport A Few Pennies
That's when all eyes will turn to the 6-foot-high copper chimney erected atop the Sistine Chapel to pipe out puffs of smoke to tell the world if there's a new pope.
For instance, Zambia's burgeoning tobacco and horticulture, which were encouraged in order to make the country rely less on copper, are struggling to cope with a sudden appreciation of the local currency, driven up by high copper prices and aid money.
The week began with another record high for copper and the suggestion, from an unlikely source, that the Federal Reserve may be sowing the seeds of its own demise.
It hit a six-month high for copper.
FORBES: CFTC: Funds Trim Speculative Length In Gold But Add To Long Positioning In Other Metals
Chart Analysis : The weekly chart of the high-grade copper futures shows an uptrend from the October lows, line b.
The high prices fetched for copper, gold and rare-earth minerals are leading to a surge in interest in mining the ocean floor.
BBC: UK Seabed Resources joins deep-ocean mineral-mining rush
The Madras High Court said the copper smelting plant had been "letting out effluents into air and water which is having a devastating impact".
With prices now falling, Chinese oil imports reached a record high in May and copper imports were up by 12% on the month.
Purchases of foreign oil exceeded records, and copper imports were high as well.
In September 2010, the Madras High Court had ordered the copper smelting plant to shut down saying it was "letting out effluents into air and water which is having a devastating impact".
David Wilson, senior base metals analyst with Societe Generale, said aluminum demand is expected to grow by 7.6% over the next five years as aluminum gets substituted for copper because of high prices for the latter.
FORBES: Stable-Higher Aluminum Expected From Participants, Delegates At Conference
But if they had been sold five years earlier, the buyer might have had time to invest and dig down to the lucrative deep deposits while the copper price was high, and would then have stayed in business for another decade at least.
The fact that the metal is currently priced at an all-time high suggests that Freeport, and its competitors like Southern Copper, Codelco and Newmont Mining, can expect high revenue figures for this year.
FORBES: Costly King Copper Could Turn Freeport Into A Pauper
Copper-market analysts believe that Zaire's high-grade ore could help create a world surplus of copper by the end of the decade, and bring prices down heavily.
This could keep copper prices at relatively high levels despite a weaker-than-expected global economy.
Last year was a good one for metal thievery (in Germany and beyond) because the copper price was so high.
Barrick recently bought a copper property at the high for this metal.
The lutetium oxide from which the crystals are made (in only a slightly updated process from the way we all made copper sulphate crystals in high school chemistry classes) all came from China.
FORBES: China to Face WTO Case Over Rare Earths: All a Little Late
Citi said while the net short position in copper is not as high as it was in February 2009 when it reached more than 22, 000 short contracts in the disaggregated report, copper remains in an oversold condition.
FORBES: FOCUS: Speculators Cut Bullish Exposure To Gold Again --CFTC Data
Unlike ceramics, plastics don't have to be fired at high temperatures and can be imbedded with copper circuits.
This illustrates the high sensitivity of its cash flows to copper prices.
As a 23-year-old engineer at Bell Laboratories in 1979, I came to believe that high-speed, high-volume transmissions were feasible via copper telephone lines.
Verizon has been replacing high-maintenance portions of its residential copper network with fiber optics to provide enhanced services and to reduce ongoing repair costs.
ENGADGET: Verizon adds 'record-high' 2.1 million subscribers in Q4 2012, but still makes a loss
High-efficiency motors, which have more copper coils and thinner laminate steel, cost more to make.
They are building copper mines in the Congo, high-speed rail lines in Brazil and apartment complexes in Saudi Arabia.
That said, my own guess is that copper and oil, both in high demand for building and running the Chinese economy are safer bets to commit money.
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