Copper prices gained marginally on Tuesday, which is attributed to a stronger demand in China  for the base metal and a weak dollar, Reuters reported.

On Tuesday, copper ended at US$6,040 a ton from US$6,024 Monday. The Financial Times stated that this year, there would be a growing demand from China.

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"The evolution of China's demand conditions remains the crucial issue for sentiment towards the complex in mid-2015, and neither the micro nor macro evidence for May suggests an improvement in this dynamic," Standard Chartered was quoted as saying.

The amount of copper ore is low nowadays. Copper is extracted from open cast mines leaving an enormous hole in the ground.

The prices of copper keep going up because the yield is low while the demand is great. Copper is a heat and electrical conductor and is used in almost everything: from computers, water pipelines, power lines, power grid, and electrical appliances, among others.

"Copper is easily stretched, molded, and shaped; is resistant to corrosion; and conducts heat and electricity efficiently. As a result, copper was important to early humans and continues to be a material of choice for a variety of domestic, industrial, and high-technology applications today," according to Geology.com

It added that in the span of 25 years, global demand for copper production has "increased dramatically." But since China is the greatest consumer of copper, AQMCopper cited that copper consumption would be based on the economic growth of China.

"Copper consumption estimates for China are being revised up. Huge spending on copper-intensive power infrastructure on the state grid in 'rural areas' will continue through 2012 (RMB 12 billion). Beijing has also renewed the 'home appliance subsidy scheme' and is promoting electric cars, which are twice as copper-intensive as conventional vehicles," Patricia Mohr, Economist, Scotiabank was quoted as saying.

China's economy is growing in a fast pace, making it the fastest growing nation in the world, Bloomberg reported.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter was US$2.301 billion, registering a growth of seven per cent, although it is expected to slow down in 2015. Still, China's economy is growing and its growth has an effect on other economies.

AQMCopper also stated that there will be global copper supply difficulties as there is a lower yield from discoveries, and underground mines have lower production compared to open cast mines.

"The reason why the prices are holding up so very high is that there have been only marginal increases in new copper mine development over the past five years," Patricia Mohr, Vice President of Economics at Scotiabank Group in Toronto stated in the AQMCopper report.

One of the challenges cited was also a decrease in exploration spending, which was down by 42 percent to $7.7 billion in 2009, based on Metals Economic Group data.

However, newer mining companies are investing in copper exploration and one of them is Amur Minerals Corporation (London AIM:AMC), which is located in Russia. The company has discovered a large quantity of sulphide nickel in the far east of Russia. Its principal asset is the Kun-Manie sulphide nickel-copper project located in Amur Oblast.

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