Peer Reviewed Article
Natural Resources and Sustainability:
Geoethics Fundamentals and Reality
David M. Abbott, Jr., CPG-04570 For the first time since November
Abstract Ensuring sustainability of economic and social activities in order
to assure future generations’ supply of energy and other natural resources is the ninth Fundamental Value of Geoethics (Di Capua, et al., 2017). Unfortunately, this statement fails to transparently and forthrightly acknowledge the depletability of individual natu- ral resource deposits, thus inhibiting a fully integral and transpar- ent discussion of this geoethics value statement’s goal of providing a sustainable supply of natural resources. The depletability of individual natural resource deposits is a fact of nature. Deposits are limited in overall size. This paper examines how the finite size of natural resource deposits and other factors can be realistically approached from a geoethical perspective. On one hand, developing a long-term mineral supply would encourage maximum extraction of a deposit’s valuable constituents by keeping the costs of production low, allowing for a lower cutoff grade. On the other hand, minimizing costs for environmental mitigation and social impact mitigation can result in unacceptable levels of adverse impacts for those living near the deposit. The costs for environmental and social impact mitigation increase the cut-off grade, the minimum grade that allows for prof- itable extraction. Dialog between the mining industry and the various environmental and social impact stakeholders is the key to finding the unique appropriate balance for each mineral deposit. The dialog among the various stakeholders about a particular deposit should recognize society’s need for mineral products as an important, socially desirable goal. Because individual natural resource deposits are depletable, natural resource supplies can only be sustained by find- ing new deposits, substitution of one product for another, recycling where possible, along with improvements in mining exploration, extraction, and processing technologies at both current and new mines.
1995, no Professional Ethics & Practices column appears in this TPG issue. This peer-reviewed arti- cle addresses the 9th fundamental value of geoethics and takes the PE&P column’s place because its length is that of a typical PE&P column plus a typical TPG article. PE&P column 176 will appear in January 2021.
Therefore, the ninth Geoethics Value statement, Ensuring sustainability of economic and social activities in order
to assure future generations’ supply of energy and other natural resources, should be changed to a more forthright and transparent statement. A suggested change is, Assuring supplies of natural resources for future generations requires rec- ognition that individual natural resources deposits are depletable and that their identification, delineation, extraction, and processing have social and environmental consequences whose mitigation must be balanced with maximizing the recovery of the valuable minerals needed by society from each deposit. The term “energy” is deleted from the statement because oil and gas, coal, and uranium are adequately covered by “natural resources.”
Key words: geoethics, natural resources deposits, depletion, sustainability
www.aipg.org
Oct.Nov.Dec 2020 • TPG 19
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