World mineral supplies. Assessment and perspective / Мировые запасы полезных ископаемых. Оценка и перспективы

As the title implies, this volume is divided into two parts. The first part is a brief assessment of world mineral supplies, and deals primarily with the geologic and economic factors which determine the demand for and the availability and distribution of mineral resources and reserves. The second part of the book is a more extensive and detailed view of the future of mineral resource supplies.

Since the book is written primarily by scientists, and particularly by geologists and engineers, the emphasis is on the technical problems of assuring adequate mineral supplies for the future. This emphasis has been dictated by the firm belief of the editors, one a geochemist and one an economist, that we do not need another book which reviews the gloomy projections of an overpopulated, greedy mineral-consuming world or another account of the economic and political problems of the less developed countries in conflict with the more affluent West. What we do need is a sober appraisal of the problems of, and possible solutions to, the present mineral resource situation. The problem of increasing mineral supplies to meet rapidly growing world consumption, although vitally affected by economic and political decisions, is ultimately technical in nature and requires a scientific solution <...>