An article I read a few days ago said, “The Rothschild Bank was selecting the finalists for the bidding for a copper mine in Africa.”

An article I read a few days ago said, “The Rothschild Bank was selecting the finalists for the bidding for a copper mine in Africa.” If you read this part, it sounds like a story from the 19th century, but it came out the day before yesterday.

Why did an article about copper mines suddenly come up? It’s because oil-producing countries in the Middle East are buying mines. Copper is not a rare earth material that is receiving attention these days, but an old mineral, why is it suddenly attracting the attention of oil-producing countries? A recent read, Chapter 10 of this book called “Material World,” talks about copper.

As anyone interested in futures markets would already know, a report published by Goldman Sachs in 2021 declared, “Copper is the new oil.” (It’s a bit funny that oil-producing countries buy copper mines because it’s the new “oil.”) No matter how much attention rare earths get, no mineral has as many functions as copper.

Copper rises again because, above all, the world is changing. In order to solve the problem of climate change, humans are converting the fossil fuel-oriented energy system that caused this problem into an electricity-oriented system, so copper will be of greater importance in the future. But isn’t there a lot of copper on the planet?

Just as oil continues to be extracted by changing the public method even if the prediction is that it will run out, more money, energy, and the environment are then replaced when the amount of minerals that can be mined through easy mining runs out. Gold is no longer mined in the way miners dig in and find “Nodaji” as seen in the movie. It destroys and extracts huge mountains. To make a single gold bar with a standard weight of 12.4 kg, 5,000 tons of soil must be dug, close to the weight of the world’s largest passenger airplane A380 when it is full.

However, the ‘world of matter’ is not a book filled with such hard statistics and grim prospects. The story of how each substance was first discovered and the interesting history of humanity’s use of it appear everywhere.

For example, a story in which common and old substances (such as glass in the “Sand” part) played an important role in determining the outcome of World War I is no different from the conflict between the U.S. and China over semiconductors these days. The scene where Britain, which was at war with Germany, went to Switzerland to secretly seek telescopes because it needed German optical equipment is the same as how China is now trying to save U.S. semiconductors through Middle Eastern countries.

It’s a thick book with more than 500 pages, but it doesn’t feel long when you think you can acquire interesting knowledge about six substances in around 80 pages each.

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Today’s article is completely open for public view, and the publisher has decided to gift readers 10 books (how to apply at the end of the text). I should sign up for an outer letter someday, and if you did, now is the best time for you :^)

“The World of Materials.”
https://otterletter.com/material-world/