SX-EW copper and the technology cycle

Technology is viewed to advance through a series of cycles, starting with the emergence of a major breakthrough, followed by a period of ferment as alternate designs and improvements rapidly appear, leading to a dominant design, and then a long plateau period of minor incremental change. In this paper, the technology cycle model is applied to the history of solvent extraction electrowinning (SX-EW) processing of copper ore, which, along with other innovations, has transformed the US copper mining industry. The general framework of the technology cycle model holds, although there are differences relating to the specific nature of SX-EW processing.One particularly interesting difference is that SX-EW initially was complementary to the original method of ore processing, known as flotation. Only in recent years has it directly challenged flotation in the processing of supergene or transitional ore. In addition, the analysis shows that the SX-EW process helped the US producers maintain their competitiveness for at least a decade before the process was widely adopted by their main competitors, the Chilean producers. This raises questions about the widely held assumption that research and development of new innovations can provide firms and countries with little or no competitive advantage because new technologies diffuse very rapidly in today’s global economy.