Technology advancement: a factor in increasing resource use

Abstract

The possibility of mineral resource depletion has been repeatedly raised as a concern because ever-growing populations will place ever-growing claims against finite resource endowments. This report addresses this perception and analyzes how technology has helped to ease resource constraints for many mineral commodities. Case studies on aluminum, copper, potash, and sulfur are provided to identify the effects of technology on resource supply.In spite of losses of resources accessibility resulting from environmental policy and expanding urbanization, mineral producers historically have been able to expand production and lower production costs. Between 1900 and 1998, production increased by 6,000 percent for sulfur, 3,770 percent for potash, 3,250 percent for aluminum, and 2,470 percent for copper. For the same period, constant-dollar (1998) prices decreased by 94 percent for potash, 90 percent for aluminum, 89 percent for sulfur, and 75 percent for copper.The application of technology has made mineral deposits available that were overlooked or considered to be nonviable. As technology changes, producers can meet the demands for higher quality, more energy efficient, and more environmentally safe products with less physical material. Also, technological changes have increased the amount of materials recycled and remanufactured. Technological advances can occur as breakthroughs, but it most often advances incrementally and is driven by the profit motive.

Historical, Current, and Future Energy Demand from Global Copper Production and Its Impact on Climate Change

“…One reason for this is the improvement of in copper concentration of the cement copper and the subsequent reduced effort in pyrometallurgical treatment as well as the lower CED of iron scrap and the electricity mix. However, a significant reduction in direct energy consumption could only be achieved by the invention of the SX as an alternative to cementation [49]. However, this development was also accompanied by a change to electricity as the major energy source, which is generally speaking relatively inefficient compared to the use of other energy sources when mainly based on fossil fuels.…”

Decreasing Metal Ore Grades—Is the Fear of Resource Depletion Justified?

“…This resulted in more precise models of individual deposits, and thus also to discoveries of new parts of already mined deposits. Altogether, these developments have enabled the resource base to be constantly expanded [35][36][37]. If we look at the reserve figures for copper over the last 50 years, we can also perceive an increase.…”

“…Another outstanding invention was the flotation process. So gradually, the mining of more complex and chemically more diverse ores became possible [36]. In addition to purely technological advances, more and more was invested into the training of workers, which also had a positive influence on the yield [18,23].…”

“…This process was introduced in 1968 and had its breakthrough in the mid-1980s. Since then, the share of total production has increased from 30% of American production in the 1990s to about 45% in 2005 [17,36]. There are also numerous innovations and process variants, for example, in the smelting process.…”

The rise and fall of an industry: Entry in U.S. copper mining, 1835–1986

“…For a discussion of major technological changes in the copper industry, seeWilburn, Goonan, and Bleiwas (2001).…”