Psst, wanna buy some copper?

i took 22kg of insulated wire scraps to sims and got $50 for it last week. keeps the workshop in beer.
big diameter cable is pricey stuff, and it is used in all large buildings to feed the power distribution boxes etc. your looking at a kilo or so per metre for the big stuff.
power lines on the outside poles are aluminium alloy.
and the entire roof of the war memorial is copper cliplock sheet, as well as the dome. only a matter of time if the price keeps going up!

Maybe it was an inside job – Copper takes copper?

Well if it was all coiled up on one of those big rolls it’s possible the thieves made use of a large number of trained hamsters.

“Police believe that because of the weight and volume of the material stolen, a vehicle had been used in the theft.”

How the f*** did they join those dots?

I bet Amber did it!

Any idea on the weight per metre ash?

Gas pipes are made of copper. I can’t remember the price, but I think your looking at something like $20 per meter (wholesale). $9000 would get you 450 meters. For an insurance claim (and to look good in the media) you can bet the price per meter is going to be a whole lot higher.

Copper is of course still used extensively in the electrical distribution of buildings. When you’re talking big buildings, the cables and the bus bars used to carry high loads of electricity have a huge amount of copper in them.

I’m no sparky, but I’ve seen bus bars in the infrastructure at work, and they’re around 5mm thick, 100mm wide and can run from one end of the building to the other.

Copper recyclers will take cable ripped out of walls and still pay a hefty price for it, even though it still has all the insulation on it.

theres a huge industry out there for stripping copper cable fom abandonments.
I should have also said

“And the associated Beagle Boy tom Thuggery activities associated with that”

JB – I think they no longer use copper for piping – maybe PVC – I dunno – but (i think and correct me if I am wrong) copper pipe is rarely used in new developments for plumbing as its not cost effective. Maybe wrapped aluminium pipes for the HWS?

My mate who works for a data wholesaler has suggested that copper wire is being withdrawn from construction in favour of aluminium strand wire – based on cost of manufacture alone.

Bonfire would be of good mind to watch himself when doing his photo-journalism of derelict buildings – theres a huge industry out there for stripping copper cable fom abandonments.