sciences such as geology, geochemistry, and geophysics — should be 

 accelerated in order to understand better how ore deposits are formed 

 and to improve techniques for finding them. Increased geological 

 exploration and advances in technology can help to locate concealed 

 deposits and make profitable the recovery of lower grade ores. New 

 technologies can reduce the demand for minerals by developing 

 methods for recycling current resources and substituting for less 

 available materials. Such efforts in science and technology, both in 

 research and in the number of experts trained, have been deficient in 

 the past. The widening dimensions of the "minerals problem" calls for 

 immediate expansion of these efforts. 



General Reference 



Mining and Minerals Policy, Second Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior 

 under the Mining and Minerals Policy Act of 1970, U.S. Government Printing 

 Office, Washington, D.C., 1973. 



Weather and Climate 



This subject, like others discussed in the report, has more facets 

 than can be properly treated here. Two, however, merit particular 

 attention: intentional modification of weather and inadvertent 

 alteration of climate. The global importance of these facets, combined 

 with the increasing prospect of human intervention in each, make 

 both of them matters for concern. 



The capability of modifying various severe weather conditions by 

 "cloud seeding" has been demonstrated in several experiments. 

 Seeding, for example, appears to reduce the high winds of hurricanes, 

 thereby lessening their destructiveness. Hurricane Agnes in 1972 

 provides a vivid illustration of the damage that can be caused by such 

 storms. Although Agnes was predicted several days in advance and the 

 movement closely monitored and widely reported, the hurricane still 

 caused some 120 deaths and $3.5 billion in property damage. On a 

 much more tragic scale was the tropical storm which devastated 

 Bangladesh in 1970, leaving at least 200,000 dead. 



Cloud seeding technology, in addition, has proven effective in 

 suppressing hail storms (which cause considerable damage to farm 

 crops) and appears promising for reducing the damage from lightning. 

 And the dispersal of "cold" fog by seeding has become a common 

 operational technique at several airports. 



A number of recent experiments appear to confirm that cloud 

 seeding, under favorable meteorological conditions, can increase (or 

 decrease) local rain or snowfall by a significant amount. The use of this 

 capability is increasingly proposed as a means to relieve drought 

 conditions and to help assure an adequate supply of water for 



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