Are the mined minerals non-renewable or renewable resources?
Mined minerals and the precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum, are , like other mined materials such as iron and copper, nonrenewable. Once they are mined in an area they cannot be replaced. This is why mines become “played out’ or exhausted over time, and geologists are constantly on the search for new places to mine. This is not to say that minerals and metals cannot be recycled – gold and silver, for instance are recycled but this is not being renewed. No non-organic material has, so far, been renewed. We can regrow trees in the same area, but not remine mines (just scrape out what was missed last time the mine was used). If anyone could come up with a way to renew minerals they would get a Nobel prize, probably get very very rich and help our planet.
