TOPIC: ARGUMENT71 - Copper occurs in nature mixed with other minerals and valuable metals in ore, and the proportion of copper in the ore can vary considerably. Until fairly recently, the only way to extract pure copper from ore was by using a process that requires large amounts of electric energy, especially if the proportion of copper in the ore is low. New copper-extracting technologies can use up to 40 percent less electricity than the older method to process the same amount of raw ore, especially when the proportion of copper in the ore is high. Therefore, we can expect the amount of electricity used by the copper-extraction industry to decline significantly.
WORDS: 475 TIME: 00:30:53 DATE: 2009-7-12 9:02:41
The author, in this argument, concludes that the expected amount of electricity used by the new copper-extraction industry can be declining significantly. To bolster it, the arguer cites the fact that the consumption of electricity is large when using the older methods, especially the copper in the ore is low in proportion, while the new one needs less electricity when the copper in the ore is high in proportion. With deep consideration, the argument turns out to be unconvincing to me.
To begin with, the arguer fails to provide any information about the accurate amount of electric energy needed by using the new copper extracting technologies when the proportion of copper in the ore is low. The comparison between the statistics of the methods whose proportion of copper is different might be unwarranted. As we all know, when the proportion is high, the copper can be extracted from one unit ore is more in quantity. Supposing the amount of electricity used to extract one unit ore is approximately consistant using new techniques, then the electricity that is consumed to get one unit of copper would be less than that when the proportion is high.
Secondly, there is no evidence mentioning the percentages of the ore which is low in the proportion of copper when using the older method and when using the new copper-extracting technologies. Common sense tells us that the the amount of minerals is reducing as we human beings keep on mining them. Thus, the general part of ore whose proportion of copper is low might be much less than that of today. That is to say, even if the amount of electricity used in the new technologies, the copper in which is high in level, is not so much, the total amount can still be much more than the older methods.
Last but not the least, even though the new technologies can be more competitive due to its much less consumption of electricity, the author does not take into account the other probable additional procedures of the new technologies that might also add to the amount of electricity consumed. Usually, the different kinds of methods can be distinct in their procedures of processing the minerals. Perhaps, the new technologies need more hard work on the other pre-processing part, which may as well need some more electricity. Thus, the final consumption is hard to assess with the whole information about the procedures of the method unknown to us.
To sum up, the author gets the conclusion by the unwarranted comparison of the amount of consumption in the two methods. To support the arguer's idea, more evidences are needed about the amount of electricity used in the new method when the proportion of copper in the ore is low. What's more, to better assess the argument, the whole procedures in the two methods are necessary to me.