This reddish metal is one of the most instrumental on Earth. It is a very efficient conductor of electricity. It is flexible and strong and it doesn’t corrode easily. It is used for heating, air conditioning, plumbing, roofing, adapters, computers, cars, mobile phones, wiring, electrical leads, transformers, motors and lighting units.

In a nutshell, copper is used in nearly every major industry of the world: transportation, engineering, machinery and equipment, electrical, building, automotive and computer.

Copper is known as the metal with a PhD for its ability to predict the economy thanks to its wide-scale industrial uses and applications.

Due to significant demand worldwide, the base metal has outpaced all of its higher-profile precious peers by a significant margin over the last five years. Spot copper prices are up 393% from their lows in 2001. Meanwhile, gold is up only 151%, silver is up 188%, platinum is up 202% and palladium is up 122%.