D. Education 



In the absence of firm estimates as to the 

 degree of offshore mineral exploration and ex- 

 ploitation in future years, some idea of the 

 educational requisites may be gained by a projec- 

 tion based on an assumption of activity. In 1965, 

 U.S. offshore hard mineral production, including 

 minerals extracted from sea water, was equal to 

 1.5 per cent of onshore production. If it is 

 assumed that offshore production in 1985 will be 

 5 to 10 per cent of onshore production, the 

 numbers of newly trained professionals and tech- 

 nicians will be: 



Engineers 



Technicians, all types 

 Marine geoscientists* 



I. INTRODUCTION 



2,050- 4,100 

 7,800-15,600 

 850 



Minerals are the raw materials of which most 

 things we use are made. Structures, roads, com- 

 munication networks, and machines are built 

 largely of mineral products. Agricultural output is 

 sustained with the aid of mineral fertilizers and 

 insecticides and by the use of machines. An 

 adequate, dependable, and continuing supply of 

 minerals is required to maintain the industrial 

 strength and security of the United States. The 

 demands of an increasing population and rising 

 standard of living, coupled with the instability 

 inherent in a constantly changing international 

 situation, make the mineral supply outlook a 

 major National concern. 



During the last 30 years the United States has 

 used more minerals and fuels than the entire world 

 in all previous history. And the demand for many 

 minerals will nearly double by 1985 and perhaps 

 triple by the year 2000. Competition for the 

 world's mineral resources will become more severe 

 as industrialization of the developing countries 

 progresses and as more and more people attain the 

 means to realize the higher living standards they 

 desire. In order to assure that the Nation will have 

 an adequate and dependable supply of mineral 

 materials in the face of this competition it will be 

 necessary to diversify our resource base and to 

 increase our rate of discovery from new sources. 



Figure, for marine geoscientists is that required to 

 make three-dimensional geological analysis of the conti- 

 nental margins. 



Mineral resources are exhaustible and non- 

 renewable. They are a one-time crop, unlike living 

 resources, which may continue to be available 

 indefinitely under proper husbandry. The United 

 States, which had furnished about two-thirds of 

 the world's mineral wealth during the period 

 1850-1900 and consumed half of this wealth, was 

 first made aware that mineral depletion is an 

 irreversible process during World War I and the 

 lesson was brought home even more forcibly 

 during World War II. As a result of the demands 

 originating with World War II new sources of iron 

 ore were sought in Canada and South America; 

 new sources of bauxite for aluminum were de- 

 veloped in Sumatra, Jamaica, Panama, Costa Rica, 

 and West Africa; and new mines were developed in 

 various foreign countries for all the basic industrial 

 minerals including copper, zinc, lead, iron, sul- 

 phur, etc. 



Of 72 strategic and critical commodities in- 

 dispensable to our economy in time of conven- 

 tional warfare, more than 40 are largely imported 

 from foreign countries. Notable deficiencies are in 

 certain ferroalloy minerals and in some of the 

 strategic nonmetalUc minerals. 



Although minerals as mined are nonrepro- 

 ducible and as such represent a wasting resource, 

 there are nevertheless the possibilities of new 

 mineral discoveries and the potential inherent in 

 an advancing technology to assure the replenish- 

 ment of depleted reserves. The ore reserves for 

 many metals have been sustained by improved 

 technology that has made it profitable to mine 

 material of lower and lower grade. Copper is a well 

 known example. In the 1860's and 1870's the ores 

 mined in the western United States contained 

 upwards of three per cent copper; at the beginning 

 of World War I it was about two per cent; and at 

 present many ores mined contain less than one per 

 cent. Volume production techniques such as open 

 pit mining, flotation recovery, and other methods 

 have made the mining and processing of such lean 

 ores feasible. It is possible that copper ores in the 

 future can be mined profitably down to a fraction 

 of the present grade. 



Reclamation is also an important factor in 

 extending the supply of some minerals. For 

 example, although the gasoline powering an auto- 

 mobile and the lead added to it are consumed 

 beyond reclamation, about 85 per cent of the lead 

 that makes up much of the same automobile's 



VII-95 



