The Drift Of Things

If there is one thing that makes a fellow feel like the years are catching up with him, it is to go through a second cycle in which the adequacy of mineral resources is being "viewed with alarm." The first time we experienced such a flap was in 1951. At that time, the United Nations convened a meeting at Lake Success to study ways and means of averting a crisis in minerals. Presently there is some sentiment being expressed about the mineral scarcities that will occur in the decades ahead, in view of world population trends and increasing per capita consumption of metals. To be greatly concerned about the adequacy of metal supplies is to be highly pessimistic about the capabilities of technology. As in the past, shortages will be of temporary duration for as far ahead as the most ambitious prognosticators are projecting. The study of mineral economics is a fascinating and surprising subject. The law of supply and demand is but a starting point. The iron ore market for the steel industry is an example which comes to mind because of our receipt this week of the United Nations report "Survey of World Iron Ore Resources."