Mineral Resources, Economics and the Environment

The value of annual world energy mineral production in 2014 was almost $4 trillion, an amount that exceeded the gross domestic product (GDP) of every country in the world except China, Japan, and the United States. Energy production makes up almost 4.5% of world GDP and as much as 40 to 90% in major oil-producing counties including Russia, Iran, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia (Table 7.1). In countries with larger and more diversified economies such as the United States and United Kingdom, the value of energy production ranges from 2 to 5% of GDP.

The importance of energy extends far beyond these numbers, however, because most other activities depend on energy, as shown by the strong correlation between energy production and per capita gross national product (GNP) for most countries (Figure 7.1). Energy production, particularly oil, has also formed the basis for many of the world's great fortunes, including the Sultan of Brunei, the Rockefeller, Mellon, and Getty families and the royal families of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UEA), and Qatar, which have supported a wide range of philanthropic, political, and religious efforts (Yergin, 1990, 2011). The emergence of sovereign wealth funds, most of which are based on revenues from oil production, are a further indication of the degree to which energy production impacts global events.

World energy has been derived from minerals since the late 1800s, when coal began to surpass wood as the main source (Figure 7.1e). Coal gave way to oil in the mid 1900s and natural gas and nuclear energy began to grow in importance in the latter half of the twentieth century. Since 1960, global natural-gas use has grown at a relatively high rate, whereas uranium has stalled after its rapid start.

Fossil fuels

Coal, oil, natural gas, oil shale, and tar sand are called fossil fuels because they are derived from fossil plant and animal remains that have been preserved in rocks (Fulkerson et al., 1990). These remains, commonly referred to as organic matter, are changed by geologic processes into various forms that have many names (Figure 7.2). Ultimately, most organic matter decomposes by oxidation to form CO2 and H2O, which are recycled into the hydrosphere and atmosphere.