Since the beginning of the new century, environmental issues have become increasingly prominent and have received more attention from around the world. Today, individuals, businesses, organizations, countries, and even the world are actively exploring ways to protect the environment, and relevant laws have been formulated and published one after another. As a special commodity that concerns all aspects of our lives, wires and cables have been focusing on producing environmentally friendly green cable products for several years. Through market practice, green and environmentally friendly cables have been well received by users and have even been listed as the primary factor by purchasing units. If cable production enterprises can pay early attention, invest early, and conduct early research and development, firmly occupying the domestic environmental cable market, it will undoubtedly be detrimental to future development.
Nowadays, green cables cover reasonable expected requirements and have characteristics such as being non-toxic (low toxicity) and pollution-free to humans and the environment, high safety and reliability, long service life, easy disassembly and recycling, and a circular economy model. Before focusing on the research and development of green and environmentally friendly cables, traditional cables were basically processed and used various chemical raw materials under high temperature conditions, which would have a negative impact on the environment throughout the entire product life cycle, and many cables were quite serious sources of pollution. During the manufacturing process, use, and waste disposal, a large amount of dioxins, heavy metals, halogens, and other harmful substances to the environment are generated. PVC cable material contains ammonia, which is flame retardant. Once burned, it will produce toxic gases such as hydrogen chloride and hydrogen halide, as well as a large amount of thick smoke, endangering human safety and fire safety. Cable scrapping is difficult to handle, buried in the ground, and lead stabilizers diffuse and lurk underground, causing environmental hazards and ecological damage. When burning PVC materials, carcinogens such as dioxins are easily produced and spread.
It is understood that the cable manufacturing industry worldwide generates 5 million tons of waste annually during the production process. 10% of cable products stored for a long time will become waste, which not only pollutes the environment but also greatly wastes natural resources. At present, the recycling rate of copper and aluminum in cable materials is over 95%, while the recycling rate of polyvinyl chloride and polyethylene is only 3%.
At present, both in China and internationally, some professional organizations are actively formulating relevant standards, including the development of GB/1648.9-1996 "Environmental Protection Control Standards for Imported Waste - Waste Wire and Cable", which strictly requires that the waste of lead and its compounds shall not exceed one ten thousandth of the weight of imported waste wire. To encourage and require cable companies to produce green and environmentally friendly cables. For example, relevant laws and regulations in our country explicitly require that important buildings prohibit the use of polyvinyl chloride wires and cables, and must use halogen-free low smoke cross-linked polyolefin insulated wires and cables to avoid large amounts of thick smoke and chlorine gas in the event of a fire, causing casualties.
And in major construction projects, it is also mandatory to use environmentally friendly cables. For example, in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, all environmentally friendly materials were used, including environmentally friendly cables. During the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, all exhibition halls also used environmentally friendly materials. In addition, as early as October 2002, the Shanghai Construction Commission stipulated that non environmentally friendly cables such as PVC should not be used in large buildings or public places. It is explicitly required that civil buildings with a height exceeding 100 meters must use low smoke halogen-free A-level flame-retardant wires and cables. High rise buildings with a height exceeding 100 meters and civil buildings below 100 meters, such as hospitals, public entertainment venues, underground shopping malls, libraries, stations, supermarkets, terminal buildings, office buildings, etc. of a certain scale, should at least use smokeless low halogen and flame-retardant cables.
In foreign markets, more emphasis is placed on the use of green and environmentally friendly cables. For example, the European Union has also issued a mandatory directive - the "Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electronic and Electrical Equipment" (ROHS Directive), which limits six substances in motor and electronic products, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Although the ROHS directive is mandatory, it is far from strict. In 2007, the EU implemented the REACH directive, which can be said to be intimidating.
Chinese companies have incurred huge REACH registration fees and continuously increasing SVHC testing costs in order to comply with the requirements of REACH regulations, which has caused many companies to have psychological fear of REACH regulations and even withdraw from the EU market. Compared to RoHS, the REACH directive covers a wider range of products and manufacturing processes in almost all industries, from mining to textiles and clothing, light industry, and electromechanical. The REACH directive imposes very strict restrictions on the use of chemicals that pose significant risks to human health and the environment. Among them, it is required that the content of any highly concerned substance (SVHC) with an annual usage of more than 1 ton in the goods cannot exceed 0.1% of the total weight of the goods.
On December 19, 2011, the list of authorized candidate substances for REACH regulation has been increased to 73 items. As of April 2013, the list of highly concerned substances (SVHC) already includes 144 harmful chemicals such as cadmium, cadmium oxide, di-n-butyl phthalate, lead tetrafluoroborate, and lead zirconium titanate. It is not difficult to see that the REACH regulatory attention list is constantly increasing.
At present, representative green and environmentally friendly cables at home and abroad mainly include flame-retardant cables, fire-resistant cables, etc. Among them, some high-end products such as low smoke and halogen-free wires and cables, irradiated cables, etc. are increasing in usage. Low smoke halogen-free cables are mainly used in social places such as rail transit, hospitals, and schools. Its benefits are very obvious. It uses new special materials that are pollution-free to the environment. The production or use process does not produce toxic gases during combustion, and there is very little acidic gas, which has a significant environmental protection effect. At present, low smoke and halogen-free cables have been put into use in rail transit, hospitals, high-rise commercial buildings, and other major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing. The use of low smoke and halogen-free cables can prevent the production of large amounts of thick smoke and chlorine gas in the event of a fire, without causing fatal harm to human health. The use of halogen-free and low smoke cross-linked polyolefin insulated wires and cables can continue to maintain power supply during accidents, reducing damage to equipment and ensuring that personnel can quickly evacuate the accident site.
With the increasing demand for environmentally friendly cables in the international market, the European Union implemented the "Directive on the Prohibition of the Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment" and the "Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment" on July 1 last year, which are both "green barriers" and opportunities. For example, Japan is at the forefront of developing green and environmentally friendly cables, with environmentally friendly cables accounting for 10% of the domestic market in 2001 and reaching 50% in 2006. Although the development and application of environmentally friendly cables in China have also received attention from various cable production enterprises, and the strategic policy of sustainable development based on green environmental protection was officially proposed as early as September 2003, compared with developed cable countries such as Japan, China is still at a disadvantage in terms of competition.
However, regardless, the research and large-scale adoption of green and environmentally friendly cables has become an international trend. Only by producing cable products that meet market demand and keep up with the development of the times can cable production enterprises effectively enhance their competitiveness and inject momentum into winning the market. The market prospect of green and environmentally friendly cables is very broad, and environmental issues are undoubtedly the trend. With the increasing attention of countries to environmental issues, environmentally friendly cables will have great potential.
Pan American Silver, a Canadian banking company, reported on November 14th that its net income for the third quarter was $14.2 million ($0.09 per share) due to an increase in gold and silver production and a decrease in cash costs. However, due to the significant drop in gold and silver prices this year, profits have still decreased by nearly 15% compared to the same period last year.
According to the report data, the gold production in the third quarter reached a record high of 41600 ounces, a year-on-year increase of 48%, as the production of its Dolores and Manatial mines increased by 60% and 56% respectively. The company plans to use $3 million in the future to complete the expansion project of the Dolores mine, in order to improve ore quality and crusher capacity.
The data also shows that silver production in the third quarter was 6.7 million ounces, a year-on-year increase of 7%, due to an increase in production from its four mines, but there was a slight decline in production capacity at LaColorada and ManatialEspejo mines.
The company expects to successfully achieve its annual gold production target of 125000-135000 ounces and silver production target of 25-26 million ounces this year.
The company pointed out that the cash cost of silver in the third quarter was $10.40 per ounce, a year-on-year decrease of 25%; The total maintenance cost of silver is $16.26 per ounce, a year-on-year decrease of 33%; In addition, the actual average silver price in the third quarter was $20.52 per ounce, a year-on-year decrease of 30%; The actual average price of gold is $1319 per ounce, a year-on-year decrease of 19%.
The company added that the general and management costs for the third quarter decreased from $4.6 million in the same period last year to $3.9 million; The exploration and development costs have decreased from $8.2 million in the same period last year to $2.6 million.
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