Natural Resource versus Mineral Resource: A problem of definitions
Two geologists sample groundwater from a coal mine in southwest Indiana to make sure it is compliance with state environmental regulations. (Photo: IDEM.)
Remember when we first defined sustainability way back in this first module and in Chapter 1 of our textbook?
Sustainability – development which ensures future generations will have equal access to the resources we have on our planet (Keller, page 17).
What do we mean by resources? When we discussed water resources in the Other Earth Components Module, a resource was simply one of the major stocks of the Hydrologic Cycle. For humans who need freshwater, that was mostly surface water (lakes and streams) and groundwater. To some extent glaciers and the ice caps are also resources of freshwater. We could also have said that clean ocean water is a resource as clean ocean water is necessary to provide us with seafood. Who doesn’t like a nice spicy tuna roll or lobster tail from time to time? When we discussed soils, we talked about how Indiana soils are unique, fertile soils that are a great for growing foods. Soil is a resource. These are two natural resources that are necessary to our survival.
Therefore, a natural resource is any earth component that we use to maintain ourselves and our lifestyle. Those that are absolutely necessary are called essential resources. These include water, air, and land or soil. Without these, we couldn’t survive. On the other hand, there are non-essential resources. These are not necessary for us to survive, such as copper or gold. Some resources can seem like they are essential because our lifestyles can’t do without them, for instance, mineral resources and fossil fuels – we’ll look closer at these in the Energy Module.
In this module and in the book, you may get confused because a mineral resource has a very specific definition which is based on how the mining industry sees the profitability of that mineral. For instance, in our general definition of a natural resource, a piece of limestone rock sitting in your backyard could be a resource. We could use that rock to landscape our garden, thus, we are using it to maintain our lifestyle. However, while this piece of limestone sitting on your lawn would be considered a natural resource, it would not be considered a mineral resource. A mineral resource would have to be found in greater quantities than just one rock lying in your yard. Your textbook defines a mineral resource as “a concentration of a naturally occurring material in or on the crust of the Earth in a form that can or potentially be extracted for profit.”
Okay, so let’s move on to this mining industry understanding of mineral resources…