MINERAL RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Within the field of mineral resources and the environment covered by its terms of reference, COMRATE, a standing Committee of the NAS-NRC Division of Earth Sciences, chose the following four areas for study by separate panels: technology, supply, the environment, and demand. This publication contains the results of these studies. Section I, the report of the technology panel, entitled Materials Conservation through Technology, is a broad coverage of the entire area under consideration. To solve the problems of space and readability involved, the panel presented an overview summary of the large body of contributed essays on specific aspects of the topic. Sections II and III--the reports of the supply and environment panels, entitled respectively Estimation of Mineral Reserves and Resources, and Implications of Mineral Production for Health and the Environment--are case studies. Section II discusses supplies of the fossil fuels and of copper as major representatives of two categories of mineral resources. For Section III, coal was selected for exclusive study because it is a material whose prospective vastly increased exploitation will raise important environmental questions. Both Sections II and III are thus illustrative of the general issues involved in mineral production and use. The report of the Demand panel, entitled Demand for Fuel and Mineral Resources (Section IV) adopts the more generalized approach. It sets the specific questions of technology, supply and environment addressed in the preceding sections in the larger socio-economic perspective of demand for energy, and of the implications of demand forecasting for both supply and demand for minerals.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Academy of Sciences-Natl Research Council

  Committee on Mineral Resources and the Environment
  Woods Hole, MA  United States 
• Publication Date: 1975

Media Info

• Pagination: 348 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Coal; Conservation; Copper; Demand; Energy; Environment; Forecasting; Fossil fuels; Mineral deposits; Production; Socioeconomic factors; Supply; Technology
• Uncontrolled Terms: Supply and demand
• Subject Areas: Economics; Energy; Environment; Geotechnology; Highways; Materials; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00095048
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 7 1975 12:00AM