[LINK] mineral resources audit

Kim Holburn kim at holburn.net
Mon Jun 11 17:48:13 AEST 2007


I just read a fascinating article in New Scientist on minerals and  
how much we have left.

While I'm sure we'll probably invent ways around these shortages,  
none the less it is an interesting article.

Earth's natural wealth: an audit
23 May 2007  New Scientist

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19426051.200- 
earths-natural-wealth-an-audit.html
http://www.newscientist.com/contents/issue/2605.html

> It's not just the world's platinum that is being used up at an  
> alarming rate. The same goes for many other rare metals such as  
> indium, which is being consumed in unprecedented quantities for  
> making LCDs for flat-screen TVs, and the tantalum needed to make  
> compact electronic devices like cellphones. How long will global  
> reserves of uranium last in a new nuclear age? Even reserves of  
> such commonplace elements as zinc, copper, nickel and the  
> phosphorus used in fertiliser will run out in the not-too-distant  
> future. So just what proportion of these materials have we used up  
> so far, and how much is there left to go round?
>
> Perhaps surprisingly, given how much we rely on these elements, we  
> can't be sure. For a start, the annual global consumption of most  
> precious metals is not known with any certainty. Estimating the  
> extractable reserves of many metals is also difficult. For rare  
> metals such as indium and gallium, these figures are kept a closely  
> guarded secret by mining companies. Governments and academics are  
> only just starting to realise that there could be a problem  
> looming, so studies of the issue are few and far between.
>
> Armin Reller, a materials chemist at the University of Augsburg in  
> Germany, and his colleagues are among the few groups who have been  
> investigating the problem. He estimates that we have, at best, 10  
> years before we run out of indium. Its impending scarcity could  
> already be reflected in its price: in January 2003 the metal sold  
> for around $60 per kilogram; by August 2006 the price had shot up  
> to over $1000 per kilogram.

....

> Similar tensions over supplies of other rare metals are not hard to  
> imagine. The Chinese government is supplementing its natural  
> deposits of rare metals by investing in mineral mines in Africa and  
> buying up high-tech scrap to extract metals that are key to its  
> developing industries. The US now imports over 90 per cent of its  
> so-called "rare earth" metals from China, according to the US  
> Geological Survey. If China decided to cut off the supply, that  
> would create a big risk of conflict, says Reller.


--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request

Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961






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