Article: World's copper use strains "nonrenewable" resource base.(Brief article)

Each year, humans use about 18,000 times more copper than the planet puts into new deposits, according to a study in the March issue of the journal Geology. At this rate, the amount of copper available within 3.3 kilometers of the Earth's crust--the likely limit of future mining--will be depleted in just 5,500 years, the study concludes.

This is an alarmingly short span in geological terms, says Stephen Kesler, professor of geological sciences at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the study. Unlike other resources such as forests and fisheries, which can be renewed relatively rapidly through natural processes, mineral deposits like copper form so ...

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