10 



UNITED STATES MINERAL RESOURCES 



edge. And the muscle power expended in mere physi- 

 cal toil, which is what labor is often thought to 

 mean, is a trivial contribution to national output 

 compared to that supplied by people in the form of 

 skills and ingenuity. 



This is only a conceptual equation, of course, for 

 numerical values cannot be assigned to some of its 

 components, and no doubt some of them — ingenuity 

 in particular — should receive far more weight than 

 others. Moreover, its components are highly inter- 

 related and interdependent. It is the development 

 and use of a high degree of ingenuity that makes 

 possible the high consumption of minerals and fuels, 

 and the use of minerals and fuels are each essential 

 to the availability and use of the other. Neverthe- 

 less, the expression serves to emphasize that level 

 of living is a function of our intelligent use of 

 natural resources, and it brings out the importance 

 of the use of energy and minerals in the industrial 

 society. As shown in figure 2, per capital Gross Na- 



$1000 $2000 $3000 $4000 $5000 



PER CAPITA GNP IN 1967 



Figure 2. — Per capita energy consumption compared to per 

 capita Gross National Product (GNP) in countries for 

 which statistics are available in the United Nations "Sta- 

 tistical Yearbook" for 1967. 



tional Product among the countries of the world is, 

 in fact, closely related to their per capita consump- 

 tion of energy. Steel consumption also shows a close 

 relation to per capita GNP (fig. 3), as does the con- 

 sumption of many other minerals. 



Because of the key role that minerals and fuels 

 play in economic growth and in economic and mili- 

 tary security, the extent of their resources is a 



$1000 $2000 $3000 $4000 $5000 



PER CAPITA GNP IN 1967 



Figure 3. — Per capita steel consumption compared to per 

 capita Gross National Product (GNP) in countries for 

 which statistics are available in the United Nations "Sta- 

 tistical Yearbook" for 1967. 



matter of great importance to government, and 

 questions concerning the magnitude of resources 

 arise in conjunction with many public problems. 

 To cite some recent examples, the magnitude of 

 low-cost coal and uranium reserves has been at the 

 heart of the question as to when to press the de- 

 velopment of the breeder reactor — which requires 

 a research-and-development program involving such 

 an enormous outlay of public capital that it would 

 be unwise to make the investment until absolutely 

 necessary. 



Similarly, estimates of potential oil and gas re- 

 sources are needed for policy decisions related to 

 the development of oil shale and coal as commercial 

 sources of hydrocarbons, and estimates are needed 

 also as the basis for decisions concerning prices and 

 import controls. 



Faced with a developing shortage of natural gas, 

 the Federal Power Commission is presently much 

 interested in knowing whether or not reserves re- 

 ported by industry are an accurate indication of the 



