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Finding Copper In All The Old Places

Australia’s Tech Dilemma

Australians are keen on technology, especially at home, but the country’s broadband is just not cutting it apparently.  Well that’s the only conclusion you can draw from a bunch of…

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Microbial Mining

A new copper leaching discovery suggests biotech-driven mining solutions could soon recover critical minerals, reduce waste and enhance sustainability. A critical minerals platform startup, Endolith, has successfully demonstrated that its…

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The Clean Energy Election?

The return of a Labor Government is also being hailed as an endorsement of Australia’s remarkable renewables journey, but there’s still a long way to go. A lot of issues…

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World Copper Supply & Demand Shifts

The world’s copper market is expected to see a significant surplus over the next two years says the latest forecast from the International Copper Study Group (ICSG). The Group said…

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June 4, 2024 · General, John’s Blog, Net Zero

Copper may be an ageing technology for delivering broadband, but for telcos now recycling all those kilometres of cables it could be worth billions.

Some are already recognising that fact of course. British engineering company TXO says they’re talking to a dozen telcos about extracting copper wires from old networks to sell on the open market, estimating there’s up to 800,000 metric tons of copper wiring available for harvesting in the UK alone. 

And that’s worth more than $7B at today’s prices. An enormous commercial opportunity.

As carriers increasingly turn to optic fibre to deliver faster commercial and domestic data than copper can—including Australia’s NBN—they’re left with a hell of a lot of copper in the ground. Copper that is now at a premium for use in new technologies like data centres for AI, wind turbines, energy storage and electric cars.

It’s not just the UK either. Global telco AT&T is ranking up its recycling efforts. The company is currently working with 4 copper reclamation centres in the US and plans to add more, saying they recycled more than 14,000 tons of copper in the last 2 years.

In Australia Telstra has started a ‘Cable Recovery Program’ for the removal of underground cables. But the NBN is also sitting on vast amounts of it, including almost 50,000kms of copper cabling it bought in 2022 despite criticism it would soon be outdated. 

Recycling copper could now be a financial godsend. While it’s quite a complex process to get the copper up, prices between $6,000 to $9,000 per ton means profit can top 30% after extraction, recovery and processing costs. Not bad odds if you ask me.

Our roads may have once been paved in copper but in today’s scarce market that now looks more like gold.

Cheer, John Fennell. 

Featured

Australia’s Tech Dilemma

Australians are keen on technology, especially at home, but the country’s broadband is just not cutting it apparently.  Well that’s…

Read More

Microbial Mining

A new copper leaching discovery suggests biotech-driven mining solutions could soon recover critical minerals, reduce waste and enhance sustainability. A…

Read More

The Clean Energy Election?

The return of a Labor Government is also being hailed as an endorsement of Australia’s remarkable renewables journey, but there’s…

Read More

World Copper Supply & Demand Shifts

The world’s copper market is expected to see a significant surplus over the next two years says the latest forecast…

Read More

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