"U.S. border enforcement agents and the Arizona Department of Public
Safety said Tuesday that an investigation into the September theft of
copper from a mining facility in Hayden, Ariz., has led to the
recovery at the Port of Los Angeles of 144 tons of stolen copper
ingots about to be shipped to China.

Worth $1.25 million, the ingots are unrefined copper that contain
traces of gold and silver and
weigh 806 pounds apiece. The 359 ingots were covered with a black
powder-like substance which camouflaged the their true color,
according to investigators."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...s-angeles.html
--
pyotr filipivich.
Discussing the decline in the US's tech edge, James Niccol once wrote
"It used to be that the USA was pretty good at producing stuff teenaged
boys could lose a finger or two playing with."