JOHANNESBURG (AP).- One of the bronze sculptures stolen from the Johannesburg Art Gallery is worth about $16,000. Curators fear thieves sold it to a scrap dealer for a mere $250. Prices for metals with industrial uses like copper — the main component in bronze — have been booming. And as the stolen bronzes fail to turn up at auction houses, galleries can only fear the worst. “I understand that art will be stolen,” said Noah Charney, who founded a think tank called the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art. “But I get very upset when art is destroyed … that is an irrevocable attack on beauty, culture and civilization.” Bronze sculptures are only the latest target in South Africa: Days before U2 played a