Mineral reserves of the world may not

last long.
By
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Email. nitish.priyadarshi@gmail.com

The use of minerals has been instrumental in raising the standard of living of mankind.
The names of the minerals and their products have been used to christen various eras of
civilization, such as the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the Nuclear Age.
The sophisticated world of today is largely the result of the enlarged use of minerals,
whether it be as fertilizer for food, coal, petroleum, natural gas and atomic energy as
sources of power, or countless other necessities of life, like automobiles, aero planes,
ships, modern communications and a host of chemicals which are derived from the use of
minerals.

Minerals thus form a part and parcel of our daily life. Since the beginning of this century
the use of minerals has been greatly diversified and expanded. Their consumption has
shown an unprecedented increase, year after year. It has been estimated that the quantity
of mineral consumed in the last 70 years even exceeds the aggregate quantity consumed
in previous human history. The sharp rise in consumption has accelerated attempts in
continuous search for locating new deposits and even deeper probe into the womb of the
earth and the ocean beds.
Minerals do not occur where we want them to be nor deposits become assets unless
explored and developed. Experience shows that no country possesses adequate resources
of all minerals. Several countries are practically devoid of mineral wealth and many have
inadequate resources.

Since the future of humanity depends on mineral resources, we must understand that
these resources have limits; our known supply of minerals will be used up early in the
third millennium of our calendar. Furthermore, modern agriculture and the ability to feed
an overpopulated world is dependent on mineral resources to construct the machines that
till the soil, enrich it with mineral fertilizers, and to transport the products. As geologists,
we cannot tell you that mineral resources are finite. The presently available resources
were created by earth processes and after we exhaust them, more will develop in a few
tens of million years, which is not in human lifespans.

Though minerals are essential for the continued industrial development, as well as for
industries, the minerals often does not last long. A mineral property is a wasting asset.
The reserves in a mine are continuously decreasing. It is not like agriculture where crops
can be raised again and again on the same land. Some authorities apprehend that the
known reserves of minerals may not last long and most of them will exhaust well within
100 to 200 years. Even the minerals which are relatively plentiful will become extremely
expensive because of the depletion of large, rich and easily accessible deposits of these
metals.

This prediction has got some validity in respect of expendable minerals like petroleum,
and non-expendable metals like tungsten, tin, lead, zinc and mercury. In the book “Limits
to Growth” by the club of Rome a great apprehension has been shown about the life of
many minerals. They have calculated the life of various minerals deposits by dividing the
known reserves by the total consumption at a static rate and came to the following
conclusions:

Commodity Total life (years).

Aluminium 100
Chromium 420
Coal 2300
Cobalt 110
Copper 36
Gold 11
Iron 240
Lead 26
Natural Gas 38
Petroleum 31
Zinc 23

Though these predictions are old but it looks true to some extent with the existing
knowledge of the reserves. A reserve of many minerals has improved due to
establishment of new reserves. But the danger still exists due to the reckless mining of
certain minerals like Iron, Coal etc. in many parts of the world especially in Jharkhand
state of India, where Iron ore mining is done illegally and in an unscientific way.

We are now reaching limits of reserves for many minerals . Human population growth
and increased modern industry are depleting our available resources at increasing rates.
Although objections have been made to the Rome Report of 1972, the press of human
growth upon the planet's resources is a very real problem. The consumption of mineral
resources proceeded at a phenomenal rate during the past hundred years and population
and production increases cannot continue without increasing pollution and depletion of
mineral resources. The geometric rise of population has been joined by a period of rapid
industrialization, which has placed incredible pressure on the mineral resources. Limits of
growth in the world are imposed not as much by pollution as by the depletion of natural
resources. As the industrialized nations of the world continue the rapid depletion of
energy and mineral resources, and resource-rich less-developed nations become
increasingly aware of the value of their raw materials, resource driven conflicts will
increase.