The Non-Ferrous Metals

Copper , lead and zinc, and more recendy aluminium, are the only non-ferrous metals which have been produced in amounts of the same order as iron and steel, though the output of the latter still far exceeds that of the non-ferrous metals. Production of a metal depends not only on its utility but also on the availability of large deposits of its ores, in a form easily mined, of high metal content and capable of yielding the metal by a relatively simple process. The production of non-ferrous metals is low in comparison with that of iron and steel because of the rarity or poverty of available ores or of difficulties in the extraction of the metals. The non-ferrous metals are therefore relatively costly, but nevertheless in great demand owing to the special properties—corrosion-resistance, electrical conductivity, low specific gravity, and so on—which they one or another possess to a marked degree.