8 



UNITED STATES MINERAL RESOURCES 



ing, these resources belong in the category of condi- 

 tional resources, but we believe there is a significant 

 distinction between resources that are not econom- 

 ically minable under present conditions and those 

 that either are not recovered because of selective 

 mining, or are discarded because of selective proc- 

 essing. In many cases the perspective of geologic 

 availability makes possible the view that what may 

 seem economical for the short term is not neces- 

 sarily so for the long term, and these potential 

 resources should not be overlooked or misused. 



THE ENERGY FACTOR 



Extraction and processing of all minerals requires 

 some form of energy, and it is a safe generalization 

 to say that to produce a fixed amount of any given 

 commodity, the lower the grade of ore, the greater 

 is the quantity of energy required. Although this 

 volume contains individual chapters on mineral 

 energy resources, a comprehensive evaluation of 

 energy resources in the context of their specific 

 relation to extraction of minerals is far beyond the 

 scope of the book. The reader should bear in mind 

 that as the mining industry turns to lower and lower 

 grades of many ores, the cost and availability of the 

 required energy are probably the single most im- 

 portant factors that will ultimately determine 

 whether or not a particular mineral deposit can be 

 worked economically. 



THE NEED FOR RESEARCH 



Potential resources are transformed into reserves 

 not by moving rock, but by expanding the artificial 

 boundaries of geologic knowledge and economic 

 availability that delimit "reserves" from "re- 

 sources"; hence, the potential of most of the re- 

 sources discussed in this volume can be realized 

 only as a result of applied research. Development 

 of new technologies will make economic extraction 

 of conditional resources feasible ; innovative applica- 

 tion of old geologic theory and the creation of new 

 concepts of ore formation can be expected to lead 

 to the discovery of conventional mineral deposits in 

 favorable regions (hypothetical resources) ; research 

 and exploration can be counted on to discover some 



new types of deposits and some new ore environ- 

 ments and regions that we do not know about now 

 (speculative resources) . 



Clearly, to these factors of geologic and economic 

 availability we must also add the factor of human 

 ingenuity. W. E. Pratt (1943), vice president of 

 Standard Oil Co., in speaking some years ago of 

 petroleum exploration, cogently expressed a view- 

 point that is equally pertinent for mineral explora- 

 tion: "* * * physical conditions in the earth's crust 

 impose fewer and less formidable obstacles to the 

 development of commercial oil fields over the earth 

 than do some of our mental and social habits * * * . 

 Whatever the geological conditions may be and 

 whatever technique we employ, we find oil in the 

 earth very rarely unless we have first acquired an 

 appropriate mental attitude * * *. Where oil really 

 is, then, in the final analysis, is in our own heads!" 



The chapters of this volume constitute a beginning 

 effort to cultivate the "appropriate mental attitude" 

 and to articulate the resulting ideas in terms of 

 where and in what magnitudes our future mineral 

 resources might be found. Only by continuing this 

 effort, through vigorous pursuit of exploration, re- 

 search, and technologic development, can we confi- 

 dently expect to locate these potential resources and 

 convert them into usable reserves. 



REFERENCES CITED 



Faltermayer, Edmund, 1972, Metals: the warning signals 



are up: Fortune, October 1972, p. 109-112, 164, 169- 



170, 174-176. 

 McKelvey, V. E., 1972, Mineral resource estimates and pub- 

 lic policy: American Scientist, v. 60, no. 1, p. 32-40; 



reprinted in this book. 

 Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J0rg€n, and 



Behrens, W. W. Ill, 1972, The limits to growth: New 



York, Universe Books, 205 p. 

 Park, C. F., Jr., 1968, Affluence in jeopardy: San Francisco, 



Freeman, Cooper & Co., 368 p. 

 Pratt, W. E., 1943, Oil in the Earth: Lawrence, Kansas 



Univ. Press, 110 p. 

 President's Materials Policy Commission, W. S. Paley, chm., 



1952, Resources for freedom: Washington, U.S. Govt. 



Printing Office, 818 p., 5 vols. 

 U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1970, Mineral facts and problems: 



U.S. Bur. Mines Bull. 650, 1291 p. 

 U.S. News and World Report, 1972, U.S. becoming a "have 



not" in raw materials — what to do? : U.S. News and 



World Report, v. 73, no. 23, p. 81-84. 



