Mineral Resources and Society

Modern society cannot live without electric and electronic products, concrete, glass, fertilizers, ceramics, motor vehicles, airplanes, refrigerators, stoves, and medical equipment, all of which are made with products of mining. In the 1950s and again in the 1970s there was serious concern about whether we would run out of mineral resources. This recurring theme is driven largely by the increasing amounts of mineral material produced from mines and used by society over time. One of the most striking aspects of the increasing quantities of mineral materials produced has been that prices of many minerals have been declining for more than 100 years. Historically, prices of nonfuel mineral materials have declined relative to consumer goods and wages (Barnett and Morse, 1963). The declining prices have had a positive influence on general economies of mineral users by reducing prices of the factors of production of finished goods. Because mineral commodities are the building blocks of so many industries and products, the declining prices reverberate throughout the economy. Declining mineral commodity prices have largely been due to the successes of mining engineers in repeatedly lowering mining and processing costs and of geologists in lowering discovery costs of mineral deposits. Demonstrating the variability of commodity prices, between 2003 and 2008 prices have dramatically increased, and in 2008 they declined again. Understanding how it is possible to have both increasing production and decreasing and more recently increasing and then decreasing prices of minerals is important to assessors and to decision-makers. Decision-makers, whether concerned about regional development, exploration, or land management, are faced with the dilemma of obtaining new information, or allowing or encouraging others to obtain it, and the possible benefits and costs of development if mineral deposits of value are discovered. The intent in this chapter is to provide decision-makers and assessors a modern perspective on the geologic controls of mineral supply and demand and on the importance to supply of different kinds of mineral deposits and occurrences.