MINERAL RESOURCES AND EARTH PROCESSES

Since 1900, the demand in the industrialized nations for primary "old - economy" metals has increased ten-fold. Their prices have declined 40% in the same period. The demand for "new - economy" metals has increased 5 to 100 times since 1985; their prices have increased spectacularly. As less-developed nations attain higher standards of living, the demand for all metals will increase and even with recycling, vast quantities of new resources, particularly "green" products, must be found, mined and processed more efficiently.

Both high quality conventional ore deposits and unconventional sources of both mineral products and energy must be tapped. Coal and organic-rich shale deposits will become new metal sources. Biogenic processes are excellent metal accumulators, but metals may be sequestered in unconventional compounds. Ore is formed though the convergence of normal earth processes (e.g. magmatism, fluid convection, metamorphism, weathering, sedimentation). Its formation requires that these processes operated in unique order and combination. Seafloor hydrothermal processes are an excellent example. Although hydrothermal convection is a continuous process along all spreading ridges, a special combination of a local thermal anomaly (excessive magmatism, shallow crustal level magma chambers), reasonable reservoir permeability, a capping thermal insulator, and bacterially-induced preservation shields are required to make base-metal massive sulfide deposits.

Future discoveries require innovative exploration. Quantitative estimation of key geological attributes (e.g. magma fluid contents, palaeo- permeability, fault dynamics) must be applied vigorously in the search for ore. Geophysical techniques normally used for deep imaging of the earth (seismic, magnetotelluric) are being adapted for exploring shallow crystalline terrains.

Finally, climate change will be an important "external" factor in establishing new areas for exploration. Potential opening of the Northwest Passage will open vast areas of the Arctic for exploration. Inexpensive shipping between the growing and established economies of the Far East and Europe will further reduce production costs. Energy required for mineral exploitation in the Arctic may be found locally, in the vast quantities of gas hydrates stored in the permafrost.