ABSTRACT
One definition of a natural resource is that it's a material source of wealth that occurs in a natural state and has economic value. The Earth's crust contains uranium ore in various forms. This is a valuable resource for use in power stations and in atomic weapons. Going back to chromium, in 2011, the US Geological Survey said that world resources of one major ore of chromium, chromite, exceeded 11 billion tonnes, which was enough to meet world demand for many centuries. Resource prices rise because of demand or scarcity, or both, and scarcity might be political in nature rather than geological. In 1980, Paul Ehrlich and Julian Simon disagreed about whether the price of natural resources would rise or fall over the coming years. It seems inevitable that if economies continue to use and then discard as waste valuable resources, there will be continuing price rises to reflect that usage.
