ABSTRACT
A mineral resource is “a concentration of naturally occurring solid, liquid or gaseous material in or on the earth’s crust in such form and amount that economic extraction of a commodity from the concentration is currently or potentially feasible’’ (U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1989). Ore is defined as a “mineral or rock that can be recovered at profit’’. Gangue is the useless material associated with the ore. Protore is mineralized rock that is too lean to be usable. Thus, a mineral does not remain an ore or non-ore for all time. A mineral can be regarded as ore so long as technology and market demand make it economical to mine it. Alternately, what was yesterday a non-ore may become ore today as technology and market demand make it economically worthwhile to mine it now. More than two-thirds of the 92 natural elements are metals. Some of them, such
as, Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Sn, Hg, S, etc., have been known and used since ancient times. Improvements in analytical techniques led to the identification of a large number of metals. The specialized and exacting requirements ofmodern industries led to profound changes in the ways metals are detected, extracted, alloyed and used. New applications for metals are being found all the time, e.g. use of germanium in semiconductors, use of cerium in high temperature superconductors, development of zircalloys in nuclear industry, titanium alloys in aerospace industry, metal glasses, etc. On the other hand, some traditional metals (e.g. Fe and Cu) are being substituted by plastics, fiberglass, ceramics, etc., thus increasing the demand for industrial minerals. The non-metallic minerals are being increasingly used as insulating material, fillers, glasses, and construction material. The ever-increasing need for more fertilizers (due to the need to grow more food for the increasing population of the world) will greatly increase the
consumption of fertilizer raw materials, like apatite, potash feldspar, etc. Thus, the demand for a given mineral depends upon technology and markets. According to Patrice Christmann of BRGM, France, the demand for metals, driven
by increasing global population and higher standard of living, is expected to double over the next 15-20 years. Hence between 2010-50, humanity will need to produce more minerals of all kinds than were produced since the origin of humanity till 2010. The 1972 Club of Rome study, The Limits to Growth, projected that some metals
would be exhausted by 2000 or 2050. This kind of dire prediction arose from the fact that many people do not appreciate the difference between ore reserves (estimated by mining companies and geological surveys) and geologic resources. The question is not one of availability, but accessibility. Reserve estimates can fluctuate upward or downward. In 1961, prior to the Club
of Rome report, copper reserves were thought to extend to 51 years. This spurred the governments to provide more funding for mineral exploration, with the result that the 1981 estimates for copper reserves stood at 72 years. In 2010, the figure dropped to 39 years. Apart fromminimizing the social, environmental and ethical costs ofmining, govern-
ments need to develop comprehensive minerals inventory databases, stable regulatory frameworks, new geochemical-geophysical tools, recycling of metals and improving public-private ownerships, in order to meet the emerging challenges in regard to the supply of minerals. An army of geologists have to be trained to look for new or alternative mineral deposits. The chapter deals with the trends in markets, production and recycling of some
selected mineral resources, namely, Rare Earth Elements, Gold, Aluminium, Copper and Lead. Advances in technology (such as, the need for light-weight wind turbines) led to
the development of new materials, such as rare-earth steels, in the recent years. For instance, dysprosium prices went up seven fold since 2003. Gold is one metal for which there has never been a diminishing of demand. The world production of gold was about 1,400 t in 1980’s, and about 1,800 t in 1990’s. The present world production of gold is about 2,500 t. More countries are producing larger quantities of gold. On the other hand, metals like copper, lead and aluminium have been in use for a
long time. A feature common among the three is secondary production of the metals from scrap. The energy requirement of the secondary production is just a fraction of that of the primary production. It is for this reason that the prices of these metals are reasonably steady.
