Minerals: Prospecting, Processing and Production

The application of chemistry to the technological requirements of the mineral industry is attended by problems of communication, isolation and application. Examples of research related to mineral exploration, underground fires, and the treatment of refractory ores suggest that the effective mineral chemist must learn the language of geology, metallurgy and engineering; that he must extend his science to include laboratory operations on a realistic scale; and that he must bridge the gap which separates the academic from the industrialist. The encouragement which the mineral industry is prepared to give to imaginative chemists is illustrated by the worldwide programme of research on the treatment of McArthur River ore. AN AWiCi on minerals in the plenary programme of this Congress does more than reflect the popular Australian interest of the moment; it serves to remind chemists of a problem with a worldwide impact Early in 1969, the Director of the United States Bureau of Mines reported to the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs: 'the capability of this nation to consume mineral raw materials is outstripping any foreseeable capability to meet its requirements at costs reasonably in line with current day costs . . We are not running out of resources; we are running out of the technology to exploit them'. The nation which can put men on the moon is running out of the technology to exploit its mineral resources! The background to such an extraordinary claim is found in the Strategic Planning Programme of Mr O'Leary's Bureau'. Starting with the premise that mineral activities should be related to the national imperatives of maintaining security, assuring a sound economy and fostering social well-being, this Programme studies the present and projected flow of 81 mineral materials in the U.S.A. The history of each material is traced through nine stages—-from the first step of exploration to the final act of re-use or disposal—in order to provide data for source, processing and end-use patterns. Supply—demand relations are then projected to specified points of time in the light of possible future changes, both technological and non-technological. This sort of prophetic exercise draws attention to areas of uncertainty which are found to be related, in one or more ways, to eight situation factors—governmental, international, geographical, physical, technological, source