Publications

How Do They Do That?

This page explains many of the basic processes and components in the mining and production of copper.

Sep. '98
How Do They Do That? Making Copper Plumbing Tube
A tour of a modern copper tube mill illustrating how copper plumbing materials are produced.

Nov. '97
How Do They Do That? Bringing Copper to Market
Step-by-step guide (with basic illustrations) from mining to shipping to smelting to trading to examples of how copper is used on a daily basis.

Nov. '97
How Do They Do That? In Situ Mining
Step-by-step guide (with basic illustrations) covering purpose and construction of in-situ copper mines.

Nov. '97
How Do They Do That? How Copper is Made
Step-by-step guide (with basic illustrations) travels from mine to mill crushing plant to mill concentrator to smelter to electrolytic refinery to rod plant or external customers. Also, oxide leaching and solvent extraction-electrowinning.

Nov. '97
How Do They Do That? Wringing Sulfuric Acid out of Sulfur Dioxide Emissions
Step-by-step guide (with basic illustrations) showing how gas sulfur dioxide (a by-product of copper smelting) is made into sulfuric acid, the largest volume chemical in use in the world today.

The Latest News

Copper-based Solar Cells:
Good for the Environment, Good for the Consumer
Copper has long been used in solar heating/hot water systems, where it is commonly used in heat exchangers. Now, it promises to become equally valuable in photovoltaic (PV) systems. These systems produce electricity through the action of sunshine on certain semiconductors, including so-called thin-film materials and the currently most promising material: copper indium gallium diselenide or CIGS.

The Presidential Dollars
Golden Collectibles or the Next Coin of the Realm? The U.S. Mint is betting it’s got it right this time. The Mint placed into circulation the first of its new golden dollar coins featuring, for the initial issue, George Washington.

High Strength Copper Steel for Rail Tank Cars to Bridges
This paper shows that the new Copper Steel has advantages over steel presently used in railroad tank cars. The higher strength leads to weight saving; higher impact fracture toughness mitigates against brittle failure particularly at low temperatures. An update of recently completed bridge using the Cu Steel is also provided.

Helpful Hints

Innovations covers technological changes involving copper.

Articles are archived by subject area (see Topics Archives on the left) and by year of publication (see Yearly Archives on the left). You can also search all of the Copper Development Association's Web site by using Search on top right of every page.

If you have articles covering copper technology that you would like to suggest for inclusion here, please send your suggestions to Editors, CDA Innovations.