It’s Not Just for Infrastructure
For years now, China has been leading the world in their industrial boom that has made their economy flourish. They have dominated the metal market for over a decade and utilized the raw materials offered to build their factories, homes, power lines, and overall infrastructure. Although China is still growing, it has slowed down tremendously compared to previous years. Now, the different industrial sectors are scouring the market to make new uses of the raw materials.
There have been studies that have been researching new possible ways to utilize the metals such as copper. Copper has the ability to kill microorganisms, a property that can help reduce bacterial growth. Perdue University is starting to integrate weight-lifting equipment that is coated with metal to help prevent the flu and viral infections from spreading. Multiple countries such as Chile, Japan, Canada, Australia, and Norway are lining their cages in salmon farm with copper to fight the spread of bacteria. Codelco, a Chilean mining company is starting to promote the use of copper in areas such as hospitals and airport – very public areas that are hosts to many several bacteria. Other uses such as baby clothing, dental floss, and even socks were presented.