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Invest in tech metals? Copper and Gold?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 4644
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Deleted member 4644

Everyone here probably knows that copper and gold are used in making everything from computer chips to Cat 5 cable. It seems to be that copper and gold will always be needed, and will be needed in ever greater amounts.

Does it make sense to grab some copper and gold as a long term investment? I am talking about $10000 or more dollars worth to be held for at least 10 years.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID...ID=000CEA15-3272-13C8-9BFE83414B7FFE87

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/18/1623244&from=rss
 
Negatory on the diamonds.. they are not a rare or raw material. They are compressed carbon that can be MADE in labs now.
 
there are some other rare metals that i think may become more valuable, cause they aren'y already in high demand for jewelry like gold/platinum. I think palladium and a few other random metals that are used in a lot of new chemical processes in high tech industries are very rare

and that's true that diamond is the new silicon. when you think about it, it's perfect. it has the best thermal conductivity of any material, important for future high Hz processors. It can also be doped just like silicon
 
Gold = Iraq, not tech.

Look at the long-term price chart for gold, it is an incredibly lousy investment except for gambling on in short-term trades.

If you had invested $10K in gold in the '70s, you'd have less than $10K now, even before adjusting for inflation.

Compare that to an S&P 500 index fund like VFINX.
 
For what it's worth, the price of copper is pretty high right now. It's fluctuated over the years (I'm guessing, only because the cost of electrical wiring has varied quite a bit. Just a couple weeks ago, I bought 250 feet of 12-2 NMB with ground... over $40!) As most of the wiring in your home is copper (Not to mention most of the water supply plumbing in homes is also copper) Having lugged around copper pipes and lots of wiring before, I'd guess (and a very rough guess) a typical home has at least 2 or 3 hundred pounds of copper in it.

From here: http://www.copper.org/about/pressreleases/2001/CopperConstruction.html
Make that 439 pounds of copper in the average home...

Anyways, how many pounds of copper are in electronics in the average home? I don't think it's too significant.
 
Oh, and as far as gold goes... most of the uses of gold are just gold plating... An ounce of gold can do an aweful lot of plating! I'd think that simply with a population increase and more people wearing rings, there'd be more gold consumed. The amount of gold in my wedding band is probably more than all the gold used for gold plating on connectors that I'll use during the rest of my life.
 
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Gold = Iraq, not tech.

Look at the long-term price chart for gold, it is an incredibly lousy investment except for gambling on in short-term trades.

If you had invested $10K in gold in the '70s, you'd have less than $10K now, even before adjusting for inflation.

Compare that to an S&P 500 index fund like VFINX.
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So you are saying that the current price is likely due to speculation like I felt?
 
(and, I'm not saying it's not a good investment... I'm saying that the tech needs of copper are pretty insignificant compared to other needs)
 
Traditionally precious metals and diamonds are a terrible long term investment. They can be a good short term investment in times of recession
 
Originally posted by: LordSegan
So you are saying that the current price is likely due to speculation like I felt?
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More that it's based on uncertainty (war). Demand spikes for gold worldwide whenever there is a major conflict.

Speculation might be invloved too, including investors thinking the uncertainty about Iran and to a lesser extent Syria and North Korea will cause more people to buy gold.

If you're serious about buying, try to figure out whether most of the gains have already happened, or if there is still enough potential growth. I'd also recommend selling as soon as you make a decent gain instead of waiting too long and watching prices tumble again.

I stay away from metals investing since I buy and hold for the long term and historically metal have been awful long-term investments. So take the above with a shaker of salt.
 
Originally posted by: Trippin315
The wife and I do gold and silver as opposed to copper
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What do you think are the mid to long term prospects on metals?
 
If copper goes up too much then Pennies can be sold for copper, I guess.

Gold is always worth the gold. If you have 100 dollars today you have to do better than the stock market average to make money on it. You definitely have to make more than inflation to break even. Gold is inflation proof.
 
well i dont know where u guys are coming from .. but i am invested in gold:

heres my recent trades:
Symbol Compny Quantity Cost Curr Price Change Curr Value Gain/Loss % Chg %
RGLD Royal Gold Inc 150 25.75 37.12 11.3700 5,568.00 1,675.55 44.16%
GLD streetTRACKS Gold 100 46.80 54.16 7.3600 5,416.00 706.05 15.73%
UNWPX US Glbl:World Prec Min 300 17.51 22.9 5.3900 6,870.00 1,587.05 30.78%

and I am going to put in more in gold! as the dollar slides, GOLD will be the place many investors will look ...

btw: what a day at the markets today ... whew ...
 
Originally posted by: LordSegan
Negatory on the diamonds.. they are not a rare or raw material. They are compressed carbon that can be MADE in labs now.
Click to expand...

You know so much yet so little. INVEST in the companies that make the diamonds. I know what a diamond is, but thanks for the chemistry lesson.

Copper and silicon are going the way of the dinosaurs. Computers are running too hot now.
 
Originally posted by: sygyzy
Originally posted by: LordSegan
Negatory on the diamonds.. they are not a rare or raw material. They are compressed carbon that can be MADE in labs now.
Click to expand...

You know so much yet so little. INVEST in the companies that make the diamonds. I know what a diamond is, but thanks for the chemistry lesson.

Copper and silicon are going the way of the dinosaurs. Computers are running too hot now.
Click to expand...

Could be smart... they are not public companies as far as I know.. lots of risk involved..
 
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