Economics of the Mineral Industry - The Influence of the Minerals Industry on General Economics

Scientists and engineers must concern themselves not only with technical problems, but with the socio-economic difficulties of our scciety. The author states that raw materials are basic to the economic process and that mineral raw materials occur naturally in nearly limitless quantities. He feels that the economic pocess will provide sufficient raw materials for man's needs, and discusses in some detail the world economic environment. As our society grows in complexity, it becomes more urgently incumbent upon scientists and engineers to bring their experiences to bear on the solution, not only of technical problems, but also on socio-economic difficulties. It is to this field that I have directed a large part of my energies. RAW MATERIALS BASIC TO THE ECONOMIC PROCESS There are certain premises, frequently overlooked, which bear emphasis. As economics concerns the production, distribution, and consumption of goods, so our whole society is based on raw materials. Without the basic extractive industries of agriculture and mining, there would be no economic problems with which to deal. This principle has been expressed as "All productivity is based on three factors: 1) natural resources, whose form, place, and condition are changed by the expenditure of 2) human energy (both muscular and mental), with the aid of 3) tools.77* It seems strange that such an obvious statement needs to be made. It is forgotten by all of us, however, at one time or another when we get involved in the complicated theories of economics dealing with the financial and fiscal policies of the various governments, in the financing of enterprises, in marketing, and in labor relations. Unless decisions in all of these fields are made with this, and the rest of the "Ten Pillars of Economic Wisdom," consciously in mind, the resultant policies are doomed to eventual failure, whether these are policies of individuals, companies, or governments. The economic process is basic to society. But economics and the social aspects of humanity are inevitably intertwined. If human needs are not provided for within the basic economic structure, conflicts arise to disrupt the most carefully laid social plans. Similarly, it is the failure of society to cope with basic economic prerequisites that leads to discord within the body politic and thus to eventual economic disaster. We who are engaged in the various aspects of the mineral industry, therefore, have a large part to play in society's future development. MINERAL RAW MATERIALS OCCUR NATURALLY IN NEARLY LIMITLESS QUANTITIES Throughout my career in and out of government, I have formed my decisions on two principles: 1) Fundamentally, all mineral raw materials exist within the earth's crust in quantities greatly exceeding man's needs; 2) Any problems of supply of these materials are primarily economic in nature. With respect to my first assumption, analyses by geochemists enable them to estimate the quantities in which each of the known elements exist in the earth's crust. One of the most cautious and famous suggests that the average copper content of the lithosphere to a depth of ten miles is about 55 ppm. If this is valid, then the lithosphere contains about 1.4 quadrillion (1.4 x 10 ") tons of copper metal — an unimaginable quantity. This is 8,500,000-fold that which has been consumed by man in his existence. To illustrate further, consider that the deepest copper mine in history went to about 9000 ft below the surface; the present copper mines of the world now average less than 1500 ft in depth. We can assume that in most continental land areas of the world it is technically feasible to mine to a depth of at least one mile. The land areas of the world to an average depth of one mile, then, contain 343 billion tons (343 x 10') of copper metal, or 2000 times that which has been extracted to date. I don't believe man will ever expend his energies to extract copper from rocks which contain only a few parts per million, but he knows that each element