Metal Resources and Their Conservation

Abstract

ROBERT K. WARNER New Haven, Connecticut T O THE economist, the title above may seem like a rattling of dry bones. The very antiquity of the subject perhaps may excuse the temerity of a mere mining engineer in resurveying the field with what he hopes is a fresh viewpoint. The discussion is confined to metal resources, though much that is said applies with equal force to coal, petroleum, and other minerals. At the start, some of the axioms of the mining industry should be examined; not that their fundamental truth is open to question but because their bald phrasing needs some qualification. We are told that mining is a one-crop industry; that mineral once extracted can never be replaced. There are at least three thoughts that warrant consideration alongside this statement. The declaration is true specifically when applied to any deposit now being mined or capable of being mined under present conditions. However, it must be remembered that a rise in price or an improvement in production technique has often in the past and will in the future cause the reaping of what to the mine owner will appear quite like a second crop of metal from the supposedly exhausted mine. It may safely be said that, when and if the time arrives when the new production of any metal or mineral ceases because it becomes unprofitable, there will still be left in the easily reached part of the earth's crust more of the mineral than was ever taken from it, and an improved technique for finding and working ores may still cause a revival. The second factor that will temper man's fate in regard to mineral exhaustion is that metals are naturally durable things and hence tend to accumulate in industry. Some metals, notably gold, owe their principal value to this resistance to oxidation and decay. Others could and would have a longer life if it was not cheaper to replace than to preserve them; a situation that would alter quickly