The Nature of Resources II

The Nature of Resources II Renewable vs. Non-renewable - Renewable through human action, s/times on their own - Non-renewable part of geological cycles - Can regard these as a fixed commodity w/in certain limits Minerals - Uneven produc + consumption reflects naturally uneven distrib worldwide - Phys processes  initial formation of mineral concentrations - Don’t know where the high quality is until we exploit it - Major producers of iron ore: China, Brazil Australia - Major producers of bauxite: Australia, Guinea, Jamaica - Proven/KnownReserve:resourceofpotentialuse+/profitthatcanbeextractedunderprevailingcondits  Ex: price, technologies, legal, environmental - Conditional Reserve: discovered but sub/uneconomic due to current prices + techs - Actual Resource: available under current, econ, technological, institutional, socio-cultural condits Mineral Resources - Trends: - More ppl  more consumption - Average quantity consumed is increasing steadily partic in NICs - Economic scarcity only partially determines a