Why is copper so expensive?

The law of supply and demand dictates that the more scarce a commodity is, the more valuable it is. Therefore, precious metals like gold, silver, and copper are very expensive.

Additionally, mining of metals has a huge overhead cost in mining machinery, territory rights, and in paying workers enough to compensate for how dangerous the job is. That is to say, mining companies charge a lot for their products because it is expensive just to obtain them.