Copper is extremely valuable to human beings. Our bodies are reliant on a small amount of copper to keep our cells healthy, and of course it is also something that we use a lot in many different construction projects – electricals in particular rely on copper components, as well as parts like these Copper Pipe Fittings https://watkinspowis.co.uk/products/copper-pipe-fittings-and-press-systems/ used in heating and plumbing, and for practical things in our homes too.
This is not new to us – since the bronze age, we have relied on copper in many ways. Our ancestors used it to create bronze (when mixed with tin this is the compound it creates) and it formed the weapons, tools and cutlery of the people of that era.
Copper is still something that we use a lot around the world, and as the world population increases and we find ever more ingenious uses for things, of course the demand starts to rise and supply cannot always keep up. When this happens, of course the price rises.
Unfortunately, this is something that started to cause a problem around the time of the 2008 recession. As people lost jobs and struggled to make ends meet, the ever-increasing value of copper, as well as some other metals was an attractive prospect to an opportunistic criminal.
There were many thefts of copper, some of which were incredibly dangerous. One resulted in a gas explosion where copper pipe had been stolen, and other thefts from train tracks have left trains unable to run.
