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Diagram as published by McKelvey in 1973 [1] Diagram as published by McKelvey in 1976 [2]. A McKelvey diagram or McKelvey box is a visual representation used to describe a natural resource such as a mineral or fossil fuel, based on the geologic certainty of its presence and its economic potential for recovery.
Classification and management of natural resources such as minerals and petroleum are classified using differing schemes. [4] [5] In 1997, UNECE published the United Nations Framework Classification for Reserves and Resources of Solid Fuels and Mineral Commodities (UNFC-1997) as a unifying international system for classifying solid minerals and fuels. [6]
Mineral Resources are further sub-divided, in order of increasing geological confidence, into inferred, indicated and measured as categories. Inferred Mineral Resource is the part of a mineral resource for which quantity, grade (or quality) and mineral content can be estimated with a low level of confidence. It is inferred from geological ...
The largest grouping of minerals by far are the silicates; most rocks are composed of greater than 95% silicate minerals, and over 90% of the Earth's crust is composed of these minerals. [102] The two main constituents of silicates are silicon and oxygen, which are the two most abundant elements in the Earth's crust.
The most important metallic minerals produced are gold (10.62 tonnes), silver (27.2 tonnes) and titanomagnetite ironsand (2.15 million tonnes). A 2008 report estimated that the unexploited resources of just seven core minerals (including gold, copper, iron and molybdenum) totalled around $140 billion in worth. [2]
Natural resources can add substantial amounts to a country's wealth; [7] however, a sudden inflow of money caused by a resource boom can create social problems including inflation harming other industries ("Dutch disease") and corruption, leading to inequality and underdevelopment, this is known as the "resource curse".
Quantitative mineral-resource assessments are defined as the numerical estimate of the amount, quality, and in some cases, value of undiscovered minerals (that is, metal or industrial mineral) present within a specified area (tract). Their purpose is to provide a framework for making decisions by governments or institutions concerning mineral ...
Model of seabed mining technology. Seabed mining, also known as Seafloor mining [1] is the recovery of minerals from the seabed by techniques of underwater mining. The concept includes mining at shallow depths on the continental shelf and deep-sea mining at greater depths associated with tectonic activity, hydrothermal vents and the abyssal plains.