concept of a resource Flashcards
What are resources?
Substances or materials that are naturally occurring.
Can be exploited for economic gain.
e.g water, oil etc..
What is resource security?
Ability to safeguard a reliable and sustainable flow of resources to maintain living standards and economic development.
What is the difference between a stock resource and a flow resource?
STOCK RESOURCE: Finite - will run out
FLOW RESOURCE: Can be replenished in a human timescale (renewables).
What is the difference between a flow resource and a critical flow resource?
A critical flow = careful human management e.g fish - restrictions on how many of a certain type can be caught - TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS!
What is the difference between a resource and a reserve?
Resource = The entire material (including what hasn’t been discovered yet)
Reserve = Amount of resource that is economically viable to extract.
Why is it difficult to tell the difference between a resource and a reserve?
Commodity prices = volatile and technological advancements are rapid.
Need for minerals increases + cost of extraction through tech advances decreases - more resources convert into reserves.
What will determine the reason to commence resource extraction?
Geological certainty (quality, quantity and accessibility)
Profitability
What is the McKelvey box?
Visual representation - helps distinguish between stock resources and reserves + differences that exist between reserves and resources.
In the McKelvey box, what does the larger box represent? What does the smaller box represent?
Larger box = Entire ‘resource base’ - e.g: copper
Smaller cube = actual reserve determined by economic viability + degree of geological assurance or certainty of its existence.
At what scale is peak oil more likely to occur?
At a national level.
Global level will be later because resources can be pooled.
What are measured reserves?
Can be estimated with confidence - quality and density of the reserves = characteristic.
What are indicated reserves?
Confidence is sufficient enough for further evaluation.
What are inferred resources?
Limited geological samples conducted
Uncertain of quality and quantity.
What are possible resources?
Thought to exist based on knowledge of local geology.
Why is peak oil more likely to occur at a national scale than at a global scale?
National scale is smaller (individual countries can run out sooner) than global scale.
Nations can import new reserves from all over the world.
