Copper cable: What are the advantages of sustainable development

When it comes to the advantages of copper cables, many people may first think of copper's low electrical resistivity, high current carrying capacity, good ductility, high tensile strength, high temperature and corrosion resistance, and other aspects; Little do they know, as a metal resource that can be 100% reused and has a high reserve production ratio, when copper is widely promoted as a cable material, its contribution to sustainable development cannot be underestimated.

Firstly, the regenerative properties of copper enable it to be continuously recycled. In theory, copper can be 100% recycled and reused. Moreover, no matter how many times it is recycled, copper can maintain its basic properties such as ductility, conductivity, thermal conductivity, and corrosion resistance after refining, and has excellent regeneration performance. This means that although copper is not inexhaustible, it can be continuously replenished and accumulated while being consumed. According to the prediction of the Ministry of Land and Resources of China, the cumulative amount of copper per capita in China will reach a peak around 2050, and domestic recycling of copper can fully meet consumer demand, and copper will no longer be a long-term shortage of resources in China. Moreover, from the perspective of ecological protection, the development of copper recycling can effectively avoid energy consumption and solid waste emissions during mining, which is of great significance in environmental protection and sustainable development.

Secondly, the high reserve production ratio of copper can ensure a longer exploitable and useful life. For a long time, the saying 'China is rich in aluminum and lacks copper' has been widely circulated. In the minds of many people, compared to other resources, the storage capacity of copper in China is not high, at least in terms of reserves, copper definitely does not have an advantage. But there is actually a certain misconception behind this concept. This inevitably brings up the concept of "reserve production ratio". The reserve production ratio, also known as the recovery rate or recovery ratio, refers to the remaining reserves at the end of the year divided by the current production level to obtain the remaining reserves, and the number of years that can still be mined based on the current production level. According to relevant data from the Development Research Center of the State Council of China, in 2014, the proven reserves of copper mineral resources in China were 30 million tons, with a reserve to production ratio of about 19, showing an increasing trend year by year. However, in the same year, the reserve to production ratio of aluminum was only 7, a decrease of nearly 20 compared to 2003. Therefore, from the perspective of reserve production ratio, copper resources are also more secure compared to aluminum.

Finally, in addition to the continuous growth of China's own copper reserves, substantial progress has also been made in China's investment, development, and construction of overseas copper resource bases. Since the mid-1990s, domestic enterprises have actively implemented the "going global" development strategy and built a stable number of overseas copper resource bases through international cooperation. Given the long development cycle of copper mines, most of these resources will be put into operation between 2015 and 2020. This also provides strong support for the sustainable development of copper resources in our country. In addition, Chile, Peru and other countries, as the main channels for China to import copper from overseas, have a large supply of copper resources and stable policies, which are conducive to China's copper imports. The continuous decline in copper prices year after year has also provided convenience for China to import copper and increase copper storage capacity.

As an important carrier of power transmission, cables play an irreplaceable role in any electrified corner of the world, whether in the home or commercial fields. In the 1950s and 1960s, due to the shortage of copper resources, China once adopted the measure of "replacing copper with aluminum" to save costs and avoid the risk of "no copper available". Nowadays, with the government paying more and more attention to energy conservation, environmental protection, and circular economy, actively supporting and carrying out the reuse of copper resources, and increasing efforts to acquire and utilize overseas mineral resources, coupled with a higher copper storage and mining ratio, the application of copper cables in various aspects of social infrastructure construction will also become more in-depth and extensive.