News
Robbers strike lightning conductors for rare metal
Organised gangs have struck old lightning conductors in search of copper plates that they believe turn into a valuable metal over the years, the Sunday times learns, although many officials say there is no scientific basis for this theory.
Disaster Management Centre Director General (Retd) Major Gen. L.B.R. Mark said it is believed that these men make colossal amounts of money by selling them.
He added that there is a theory that lightning over a long period of time causes a chemical reaction in the copper found in these conductors and that it is transformed into a valuable metal. You can’t get this result in new conductors, he said.
Digging for copper plates: The site where the watcher of the Dutch Reformed Church in Colombo was arrested. Pic by Nilan Maligaspe
An expert on meteorology said these gangs offer millions of rupees for the copper plates. Explaining the theory he said an average lightning strike discharges about 30,000 amperes. When such a large current passes through the copper plate located at the bottom of a lightning conductor it could turn the plate to gold or some precious metal.”
However other officials say this theory has not been proved scientifically.
Meteorology Department Director General Lalith Chandrapala said, “The belief is that very old copper plates turn into valuable metal because of the high density of current that flows through them causing a reaction with the copper. However scientifically this is hard to prove, because copper can’t change its form.”
On July 22 a man was arrested attempting to steal a copper plate from the nearly 300-year-old Dutch Reformed Church on Wolfendhal Street, Colombo 13. The suspect, the watcher at the premises had been digging a drain in an attempt to steal this copper plate from the lightning conductor fixed to the church, police said.
In Welimada, too, two men were apprehended trying to steal the copper plate of a lightning conductor fixed to a tea estate bungalow while lightning conductors at the Eye Hospital in Colombo and the Maharagama Cancer Hospital were also stolen.
An engineer attached to a company that markets these lightning systems told the Sunday Times that after about 150 years of lightning a rare metal called iridium forms in these plates underground. “It is a costly metal and a gram of Iridium is worth about Rs. 300- 400 thousand,” he said.
However a consultant in lightning protection Dr. Chandima Gomes said there was no scientific basis that copper could turn into the rare metal Iridium.“There are many high voltage laboratories which can produce lightning artificially. Thus, we could then produce tons of iridium if such conversion takes place,” he said.
Dr. Gomes added, “There is no financial value of such material as they are found in very small quantities in these lightning protection finials. However, due to these beliefs the harm that these people can do to the country could be immense. They may remove protection systems or parts of them and expose many buildings and expensive equipment to the adverse effects of lightning.”