Nope... this stuff is 96.5% copper, and copper is ~3x as expensive as stainless steel. Even if tantalum and lithium were free, it would be substantially more expensive. Tantalum is not free, though. It's a very expensive material at about 100x the cost per kg relative to stainless steel, so it nearly doubles the cost of the raw material inputs by itself with its 3% contribution. The process of making this alloy is also likely to be expensive.
I'm also not sure how much being in an alloy would impact the antimicrobial effects of copper.
Well, this could dramatically increase the demand for tantalum, which (econ 101) could dramatically increase the supply over time? Is tantalum in much demand today?
Huge demand for copper hasn’t brought its price down to the price of stainless steel, has it? Most definitely not, so it seems like Econ 101 was incomplete. Not all goods are perfectly elastic. Inelastic goods do not get cheaper with more demand.
Tantalum is in demand today, yes. Tantalum capacitors are a well known application, but it is used in all sorts of things.
My point was that even if tantalum were free, a material that is 96.5% copper is still not going to be significantly cheaper than copper, which I think is a pretty self-evident outcome.
Copper has been in high demand for centuries. Lithium might be a more similar situation to tantalum, huge spikes in demand in the last decade have absolutely floored prices
I'm also not sure how much being in an alloy would impact the antimicrobial effects of copper.