Thoughts on copper bullion as an investment?

[Bigmarc]

3 hours ago, Petra said:

Oh, but they do! Done round here. Also, cut off phone/internet at a local prison… out in the country, found the buried cables and ripped up in the middle of the night🤔 

These cables are mainly signal cables and are being replaced by fiber optics. Before the use of fiber optics and rubber they used paper and lead and some are still used today. Most have been de-commissioned but still lay in the ground. There is a person whose job it is to find these cables to mark it up for future removal (but apparently they like to leave it there for as long as possible so know one else can use the space). I have found a video but most telecom cables are 5 times the size of this. Fast forward to near the end to get the gist as the fella is making a meal of it.

 

[iacabu]

I've got a few random pieces of copper, but only two pieces I actually paid for

1993 5 Yuan Panda and a 5oz Buffalo

 

[MickB]

3 hours ago, flyingveepixie said:

Phone and internet cables operating at 48V I can understand - no risk there if you cut into them with your snips, although it would seem to be hardly worth the bother as the copper return would be so minimal. But cables for running trains and other systems like signalling and lighting I can't get my head around as they would be extremely risky to tamper with - there are some pretty hefty cables in those systems operating at voltages above 230.  How do they do it?   Unless it's so organised that they have a man at source to isolate the power supply, which I doubt...🤔

25kv overhead power lines are live at all times to deter theft on the railway. They probably target storage yards where the spare drums of cabling is kept.

The odd time we get our railway line disrupted due to lineside signalling cable theft, where they chop a few hundred metres off in the middle of the night but it doesn't seem to be worth the bother as there isn't much in it once the insulation is all stripped off.

[Spyder]

Just reported.

SANTIAGO — A group of armed men in Chile stole several shipping containers filled with copper that belonged to state-owned giant Codelco on Wednesday, adding pressure over shipments security in the world’s largest copper producer.

Copper seems to be the bandits new gold

 

[Petra]

13 minutes ago, Spyder said:

Just reported.

SANTIAGO — A group of armed men in Chile stole several shipping containers filled with copper that belonged to state-owned giant Codelco on Wednesday, adding pressure over shipments security in the world’s largest copper producer.

Copper seems to be the bandits new gold

 

Unless you’re going to stack ‘several containers’ of copper round at yours I wouldn’t worry. A few copper rounds or a bit of copper cable isn’t really in the same league🤔

[Dom]

Just so I'm clear, which 1p and 2p coins have a decent amount of copper? Are there any that contain more copper than the face value of the coin..... might look into melting the contents of a very large whisky bottle I've got if so and weigh it in 🤣

Edited January 12, 2023 by Dom

[Spyder]

10 minutes ago, Dom said:

Just so I'm clear, which 1p and 2p coins have a decent amount of copper? Are there any that contain more copper than the face value of the coin..... might look into melting the contents of a very large whisky bottle I've got if so and weigh it in 🤣

Get a magnet, if they stick, they are not copper. I do not think the percentage of copper changed from first being introduced to them replacing to non copper. If you look in your change, you can still find many copper coins

[Petra]

15 minutes ago, Dom said:

Just so I'm clear, which 1p and 2p coins have a decent amount of copper? Are there any that contain more copper than the face value of the coin..... might look into melting the contents of a very large whisky bottle I've got if so and weigh it in 🤣

Just bag em up and take to the bank, at least you won’t loose anything!🤔😮😁😁

[Spyder]

26 minutes ago, Petra said:

Just bag em up and take to the bank, at least you won’t loose anything!🤔😮😁😁

You might do if the bag is loose

[Petra]

3 minutes ago, Spyder said:

You might do if the bag is loose

Or lose it all🤔

[Nik]

Zombie alert!

As this is the most recent thread on this topic it's resurrected instead of posting  a new one.

I've been tempted to buy new copper products until I read What Are UK Coins Made From? - The Coin Expert and realised I've been a copper stacker most of my life.  There'd be more in the photo's if I hadn't spent them at the corner shop cos they're always needing small change.

I'm current separating old and new 10p and 5p coins too as they are 75% copper and 25% nickel.  I need a maths expert to work out the value of a kilo of those.  The designs were changed before the metal content so don't rely on sight. New ones are stainless steel with nickel plating.  Saving the older ones now just in case they change the laws regarding damage to our currency.

[Spyder]

Get a magnet and you fly through the sorting process.

Also you will be surprised by how many 1972 coins and earlier you still find in your change.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Spyder

[Nik]

18 minutes ago, Spyder said:

Get a magnet and you fly through the sorting process.

Also you will be surprised by how many 1972 coins and earlier you still find in your change.

Fridge magnet worked fine.

[MickB]

https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/03/27/the-metals-in-uk-coins/

Here's another guide showing the metals in UK coins. It's out of date as it still shows the old £1 coin but it took me by surprise to see the amount of copper content in the other coins.

[Spyder]

56 minutes ago, MickB said:

https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/03/27/the-metals-in-uk-coins/

Here's another guide showing the metals in UK coins. It's out of date as it still shows the old £1 coin but it took me by surprise to see the amount of copper content in the other coins.

I always thought the pre 1992 were all copper. Never too old to learn something new.

[Britannia47]

One ounce .999 Fine Copper from the American Wildlife series - BISON, often wrongly named as a ‘Buffalo’!….

 

 

[ZRPMs]

Best bit of copper investment I've spent. I managed to strip over half a ton free wire since I've had it.

[Bigmarc]

44 minutes ago, ZRPMs said:

Best bit of copper investment I've spent. I managed to strip over half a ton free wire since I've had it.

Are you weighing it in now or at a later date?

[flyingveepixie]

1 hour ago, ZRPMs said:

Best bit of copper investment I've spent. I managed to strip over half a ton free wire since I've had it.

Can you strip any size of cable with that device?  I strip all my left over bits and pieces of cable by hand and it's a right pain in the butt.

[Spyder]

16 minutes ago, flyingveepixie said:

Can you strip any size of cable with that device?  I strip all my left over bits and pieces of cable by hand and it's a right pain in the butt.

I use this one. Canadian made and can be used with a drill. 

 

[ZRPMs]

27 minutes ago, Bigmarc said:

Are you weighing it in now or at a later date?

I used to save pipe, cable, radiators, brass, Non ferrous metal through out the year then weigh it in usually December. It was a way off saving a Christmas fund. Usually got £800 to a £1000. I've now started to save it. I have a small furnace and want to cast bars. A friend of mine has been doing this for quite some time now and has used the bars as pixels and started to stack them in his outside office to create a dragon using copper and brass. 

[ZRPMs]

20 minutes ago, flyingveepixie said:

Can you strip any size of cable with that device?  I strip all my left over bits and pieces of cable by hand and it's a right pain in the butt.

This one will go down to insulated wire off about 1.5 mm but really this is not worth the time it takes to strip, up to what ever I can get between the roller and the cutting wheel ( not had anything that wouldn't fit yet). There is a knack to some of the cable bit it will cut multi stranded flex as good as twin and earth solid core.

[ZRPMs]

8 minutes ago, Spyder said:

I use this one. Canadian made and can be used with a drill. 

 

I have the option of the drill also but have found its easier and more controllable using the handle.

[Spyder]

I have a copper water cylinder which I am planning on cutting down and at a later date, would like to cast into bars. It just a case of buying a furnace. So many things one would like to do, but never the time, space or money 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Spyder

[flyingveepixie]

2 hours ago, ZRPMs said:

This one will go down to insulated wire off about 1.5 mm but really this is not worth the time it takes to strip, up to what ever I can get between the roller and the cutting wheel ( not had anything that wouldn't fit yet). There is a knack to some of the cable bit it will cut multi stranded flex as good as twin and earth solid core.

Yes it's hard effort for little reward with such small cable size, but I still do it if I have an afternoon where I'm sitting around doing nothing else. Upwards of 6mm is great if you can get it.  I used to chuck the 1.0. 1.5, 2.5mm leftovers away but started chucking them in the bottom of my toolbox a couple of years ago with the philosophy of "waste not. want not', and I scrounge even the tiniest pieces of old copper pipe I see lying around on jobs these days.  @Spyder I'd love to get my hands on an old copper tank and I know of several in lofts just sitting there redundant but the problem is getting them out of the loft when there's only a tiny hatch.