If we ever got the chance to travel back in time, would you
wish that humans never ever discovered how to mine? How to extract minerals?
Invented ways and means to discover how we can use gold, silver and the likes?
It would have been a different world we are living in. A world where there is
no fast paced communication system, a world where we have to travel by foot to
get to a great distance to meet new people and to make our living barefoot and
most probably in a tiny bit of clothing (well using animal skin requires the
use of carving tools!)
In the last decades the international mining industry has
grown tremendously. Globally producing about $93 billion worth of raw metals
and employing about 20 million people (1% of the global workforce) and another
6 million engage in small scale mining. While people have been mining in all
parts of the world for centuries, the last few decades have seen a notable
shift in the geographic focus of large scale mining. The production side of the
industry are increasingly moving away from traditional, developed sources and
towards largely unexplored developing countries. The shift answers the need to
find new mineral resources to meet growing demands and in the continuing change
in economic and industrial policies in developing countries that encourage
international investment.
In the years following World War II, a hug demand for raw
materials and intensive global economic growth sent Western mining companies
all over the world seeking new sources of minerals. The new and developing
countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia sought greater share of the
benefits from their natural resources so these countries nationalized mining
industries or changed economic policies to include very high taxes and export
levies.
The changing economics and technology have contributed to
the shift in focusing in developing countries. Many lower cost ore bodies with
higher quality are located in developing countries, where resources have been
less explored and developed. Cheaper labour and equipment and less onerous
regulations may also contribute to lower costs.
New and improved exploration techniques like airborne
geophysical prospecting and deeper drilling techniques have increased the
industry’s ability to discover previously unknown ore bodies. New technologies
also cut expenses to mean that very low grade or complex ores have now become
economically feasible to mine.
My answer to the questions I posted earlier on would be, no,
I don’t want to imagine life without mining. I believe it is a God given gift
because it naturally occurs, we cannot plant it, and we cannot propagate it.
And for thousands of years, our ancestors were already mining, yet we still
have the resources. I believe it cannot be depleted, yes in a certain area
mined to the last bit, but I can’t fathom how bountiful our land is and how
amazing humans are for their boundless talents and ingenuity. We now live as we
are, able to communicate in an instant with the help of our mobile phones, able
to go great distances without physical exhaustion (protected from the heat of
the sun and harsh weather) and we get to choose how we clothe ourselves.
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