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

摘要: Metals are an essential part of modern living. Ensuring the future supply metals is a key issue in politics, science, and economics because available amount mineral resources limited. To measure depletion resources, several indicators used. Some them based on ore grade, which has been decreasing over time thus taken as sign resource exhaustion. However, does this assumption hold true? This paper shows that development grades mainly result increasing demand outstanding technological improvements made mining low grade ores profitable. The usage indicator may, therefore, lead to erroneous conclusions about safeguard objects. These not themselves, but environment impacted by their extraction.