The UK's mineral extraction industry could receive a welcome boost from news that prices of base metals and other commodities are rising around the world.
There is increasing demand for the metals mined out of the ground as manufacturing picks up in the wake of the economic downturn.
Base metals such as copper, iron and zinc are proving particularly popular, as investors are purchasing them to protect their portfolios from the weakness in paper currencies that has characterised much of the past two years.
In fact, the British Transport Police has reported that copper is now so valuable, there has been an increase in thefts of the metal from railways and electricity works.
Speaking to the BBC, officers said that there have been 5,000 such incidents in the past year.
In 2008, refined copper sold for less than £2,000 a tonne, but it now costs more than £5,000.
Typical Guttridge equipment used in the mineral extraction industry includes; conveyors – screw conveyors – chain conveyors – belt conveyors.
