Mohave County miner., 1911-12-30
Strength of Copper
Matter of Comment

With copper firmly establis he'd at
lac. and above per pound the metal
has now enjoyed an actual advance of
&c. per pound from the low price re-
corded in August and September of
this year. There was of course, only
nom nal amount OF metal sold at the
low price, but it is figured in well in
formed circles that all of this metal
was taken by foreign consumers, who,
As in years gone by, are always found
10 be the big buyers of copper when il
sells down TO any such low figure.
On numerous occasions in the past
the metal reached l4c. after great eff
fort had been made on the part of
those who were responsible for its &C
celebration. Bat the present copper
move is so different from any other
which has occurred within recent years
that it mas caused considerable com
ment among those who are well posted
and who follow the statistics of the
trade in detail. The best proof of the
firmL ess of this situation, as far as it
exists in the present copper market, is
amply shown by the fact that you can
not get metal under any circumstances
for less than l4c.
This now represents the bid quota
tiUn, and in order TO get any metal in
quantity you would quite likely have
To pay from II and one eight cents to
L and one fourth cents per pound.
Furthermore, the reserve supply is in
such cleaned uD condition that there
is every likelihood for the price of the
metal going TO l5c. under the stimulus
which is now under way as a result of
this rising market.
The demand for copper from Europe
continues strong, and if shipments con-
tinue at the present rate, the month
of December will be one of the largest,
if not the largest, in the matter of ex-
ports. For the first Is days of the cur
rent month shipments abroad APP
proximate 81, 5OO,O 900 pounds, or at the
rate of about 100000 pounds for the
month.
A prominent member of the copper
trade calls attention to the fact that
consumption of the world is apparently
not running far from 10000 tons per
month: that the total foreign and do
-
Guiding supplies at Ham burg and Rot
terdam; in other words, that notwith-
standing all that is said about the
large worlds surplus, the fact remains
that the total supplies of copper IN
Europe and America is only a seven
weeks supply for the world.
James Mclean, v,ce-p president of
Phelps, Dodge q Co., in an interview
on the metal says:
"At the approach of the year-end |
there has been a decided change for |
the better in the copper situation
The comparatively low price of copper |
which has ruled for the past two or |
three years has had a very serious eff |
feet upon the earning capacity of the |
producing mines. Consumption has |
been stimulated. however, to a very |
considerable extent, and the available |
stock of merchantable copper in the |
world has declined l5S, 5000, 600 pounds |
during the past eighteen months, SO |
that it is now equal only to about six
weeks consumptive demand.
''Since 1900 the worlds production
of copper has increased about 70 per
cent, while the increase in consump- |
tion has been about II per cent. |
Stocks in consumers hands the world |
over are exceedingly small and are
probably much less today than they |
were when the price of copper was % |
cents per pound in 1896. New York |
Mining Age.