What lessons can be drawn from the production history of other non-renewable resources?
The world has never run out of any significant, globally traded, non-renewable mineral resource. In the 1970s, it was predicted that the world would run out of lead, zinc, tin, gold, silver, and platinum by 1990. That did not happen. Production of some mineral resources has declined, but the declines have reflected decreases in demand due to resource substitution or environmental and health safety, rather than scarcity. An important notion is “end use need” – whether the function of a particular commodity can be met in the absence of that commodity. For example, the historical use of copper in telephone wires has been satisfied by fibre optic cables and wireless technology. Has panic taken over the reporting of objective facts, or should we be more concerned than we are? No, it is not a matter of objective reporting of facts but rather the interpretation of those facts. For example, modern oil production has greatly exceeded the volume of discoveries, which logically could be interpret
