A book arrived yesterday -- Mineral Resources, Economics, and the
Environment by Stephen E. Kesler.
Here are comments from my friend Rick Reese:
"The audience is the clan of geologists, and it is filled with the jargon of
this clan.
On page 322 is an interesting table of minerals. They are sorted on the
basis of known reserves, divided by the annual rate of current consumption,
estimating the years of supply remaining. The author shouts at us to make
sure that we understand that these figures are overly optimistic, because
they do not reflect the affect of a growing rate of consumption, or a
declining rate of production. He does not present us with Hubbert curves of
discovery or production for these minerals.
The mineral reserves that will be eliminated in 10 to 25 years include:
thallium, sulfur, mercury, gold, arsenic, lead, zinc, diamond, silver, and
indium.
Those that will last 25 to 50 years include: molybdenum, oil, selenium,
fluorspar, copper, uranium, bismuth, manganese, graphite, barite, strontium,
peat, tin, and cadmium.
Natural gas is in the 50 to 100 year list. For gas-guzzling North
Americans, the remaining supply will be consumed much sooner. Also in this
category are: cobalt, vermiculite, phosphate, rhenium, antimony,
tantalum,ilmenite, tungsten, zirconium, and nickel."
Just a little something to fill up the US election evening. [wink]
Tom
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