Ore mineral supply and demand Flashcards
Production
Production of ore minerals varies globally, depending on the size and accessibility of a country’s ore mineral reserves (including whether reserves have already been depleted) and whether the country can afford to extract its deposits.
Consumption
Consumption also varies around the world, depending on the wealth of the country and its major industries (e.g. countries with plants for extracting iron from its ore and producing steel from it are likely to import large amounts).
Example-Gold
Gold production is high in China, Australia and Russia, and consumption is high in China, India and the USA.
In 2015, China was the largest producer and consumer of gold in the world-it produced over 450 tonnes, and demand was over 980 tonnes. Production is high because China has large gold reserves and is wealthy enough to exploit them. High wealth also contributes to China’s high consumption.
Some developing countries have large reserves of gold, but are not wealthy enough to fully exploit them. For example, Ethiopia has large reserves - the Benishangul-Gumuz state in the west of the country has reserves of around 900 tonnes-but produces relatively little (less than 12 tonnes in 2016).
Trade between countries
For example, in 2016 the value of iron ore exports worldwide was over US $70 billion. The biggest exporter of iron ore was Australia (over 50% of all exports by value), and the biggest importer was China (nearly 70% of all imports by value).
LIC’s
If a country is poor, it may not be able to afford to import enough ore minerals to meet its need. This may hinder economic development.
Illegal mining
Some ore minerals may be obtained illegally, e.g. using slave labour and without permission from the state this impacts on human rights, and may hinder a country’s development. There have been international efforts to stop the trade of illegally obtained ore minerals, but it is probable that many of them eventually make it into consumer goods manufactured in other countries.
Conflicts
Ore mineral reserves can cause conflict - this can be between countries, or between different groups in the same country. For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, there’s ongoing conflict between government forces and armed militia over the control of tin, tantalum and tungsten production.
