Abstract
IN his presidential address delivered on May 16 before the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, Mr. G. F. Lavcoa : reviewed the general position as regards the table world resources of some of the more important metals, the prospects of finding further supplies and the methods employed in the seach Iror new ore-bodies. For many years past few diseoveries of important deposits have been made, apart from gold and iron. In Canada, for example, 84 percent of the 1942 production was obtained from mineral areas discovered before 1920, and only 5 percent from those discovered since 1930. Except in the U.S.S.R., the position is probably much worse in most other countries. Obviously, to a very large extent we are to-day living on our mineral capital. While it is clear that the era of surface prospecting has entered the phase of diminishing returns, there is every probability that many valuable ore-deposits, which do not outcrop or even closely approach the surface, still remain to be discovered. Mr. Laycock emphasizes the following suggestions : (1) Intensive research should be directed towards the development of new or improved methods of geophysical exploration with a view to the elimination of the uncertainties and weaknesses of existing methods. (2) Operating companies must be officially encouraged, for example, by tax reliefs, to carry out intensive prospecting for new sources of ore in and around existing workings by means of geological, geophysical and diamond -drilling methods. (3) Exploration companies should be formed to investigate potentially promising virgin areas where old-fashioned prospecting methods are useless by themselves ; prospecting rights must be granted over wide areas, and the very considerable expenses of such large-scale operations should be allowable for taxation purposes as deductions against any future profits. Mr. Laycock predicts that with such stimulation and governmental assistance the present unsatisfactory position is likely to be greatly improved by the discovery of important concealed deposits.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mineral Resources and Exploration. Nature 158, 20 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158020a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158020a0