But if they had been sold five years earlier, the buyer might have had time to invest and dig down to the lucrative deep deposits while the copper price was high, and would then have stayed in business for another decade at least.

ECONOMIST: Zambian copper

Mr. McCLINTON: (Singing) If you were over in Egypt, way down deep on a dig, and if some mummy tried to get chummy, I'd be there to unravel his wig.

NPR: Bluesman Delbert McClinton's 'Cost of Living'