Which of the earths minerals and resources will we run out of first?
The problem isn’t really “running out” of minerals and resources. The problem is that increasing scarcity makes them increasingly expensive to obtain. We may never literally run out of oil, or copper, or uranium, but as we use more and more the potential supply diminishes. Demand can progressively increase. The consequence is more “costly” resources, and cost can be measured not only in dollars, but in labor and opportunity costs. Trying to guess which resources will run out first, or which scarcity is most pressing, requires subjective value judgments. It depends on what humanity values most, and how much expense they can bear. However, it appears at this time that energy resource scarcity is very pressing. The recent energy crisis was only a warning of greater problems in the future. The sudden fall in oil prices does not bode well for long term energy security for a variety of reasons. First, there is less economic incentive to invest in exploration and drilling. Second, oil consump
