William X. Chavez, Jr

Minerals Engineering Department, New Mexico School of Mines, Socorro, New Mexico U.S.A. 

Current stockpiles of base metals, aluminum, and ferrous products indicate that mine production has not yet been restricted enough so as to allow consumption of metals to reach an equilibrium with mine production. Even given this observation, some companies and countries are increasing metals production from mines so as to exert greater influence on the economics of a particular metals commodity this Is true for major and intermediate mining companies, and countries with substantial base metal or ferrous mineral resources. 

Property acquisitions represent an alternative to the risks associated with traditional exploration, and available to companies and countries with sufficient cash-on-hand or with joint-venture partners. Because many mineral properties are substantially undervalued, acquisitions represent an economically-favorable manner of securing future mineral resources, allowing companies and state entities to prepare for the next upswing in mineral commodity demand in addition, acquiring future resources provides some measure of economic security in that a source of minerals commodities is essentially guaranteed. 

Although future minerals exploration will continue to involve high-risk frontier and novel geographic regions, the conservative nature of the mining and minerals supply businesses dictates that more traditional and pragmatic methods will be applied to ore search. 

Keywords mineral exploration, supply, mine start-up 

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Minerals exploration and supply a worldwide perspective William X. Chavez, Jr. 

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