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Uses of Copper Ore

Copper is one of the first metals to have been shaped and put to use by mankind. Originally valued for its appearance as much as its ease of manipulation, it has become widely used in many forms of technology, including electronic products, industrial machinery and telecommunications. Copper ore is the raw form of the material, which is subsequently processed and put to a variety of uses. Chile is currently the largest supplier of copper ore in the world.

Properties That Make Copper Ore Useful
- Copper ore, when processed, possesses excellent alloying abilities, meaning it can be combined with other metals to form a metal alloy that incorporates some of the qualities of both combinants. Combined with zinc, it produces brass; and combined with tin, it can form bronze. A copper-nickel alloy, for instance, is often used on the hulls of ships, because it has properties that resist corrosion and help prevent the adhesion of marine fauna.
Ancient Uses
- In ancient times, copper was primarily used as a decorative artifact. Early cultures in Italy, Peru, India and China, among others, chose to shape the metal into pendants, necklaces, earrings, combs and other jewelry, because it has an attractive appearance and is easy to shape. Later, it came to be used, in the form of bronze, to fashion weapons, such as axes, swords, spearheads and arrows. It also was used to fashion stone-working chisels and eating bowls that were much more sturdy than previous stone and clay examples.
Copper Coins
- As a result of its attractive appearance and malleable texture, copper has been used as a form of coinage since the time of the ancient Romans and Greeks. The mass production of copper coinage, however, took off when Matthew Boulton designed a steam-powered coinage press in 1788, capable of producing coins of standard size and weight. Today, copper coins are still widely in use in many countries around the world.
Electrical Cables
- Copper has many applications in modern technology. One of its most fundamental is its use in the telegraph system. Hundreds of thousands of miles of copper telegraph lines have been laid across all continents of the earth and even sunk with weights and connected across the Atlantic Ocean. These connections form the basis of our system of long-distance communication, which lies at the very heart of modern global interaction. It is because of copper's excellent electrical conduction qualities and resistance to corrosion that it has been so widely used.

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