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2015 GSA PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

                          The world is changing

GSA TODAY | JANUARY 2016  Jonathan G. Price, LLC, 2210 Andromeda Way, Reno, Nevada                    Figure 2. Annual global gold production, 1900–2014 (production data from
                          89509, USA                                                                  U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Bureau of Mines; population data from U.S.
                                                                                                      Central Intelligence Agency; updated from Price, 2013).
                            The world is changing. Our science is increasingly global, as we
                          recognize the challenges of understanding interconnected Earth                A somewhat similar situation is illustrated by gold production
                          systems, meeting the rising global demand for mineral and energy            (Fig. 2). Although gold has many industrial uses (vital for
                          resources, handling tradeoffs regarding sustainable development,            conducting electricity in computers and cell phones and in
                          and reducing the risks of natural disasters that impact the global          reflecting heat), its primary use is as money, either in the form of
                          economy. The geosciences are vital to meeting these societal                bullion, coins, or, in much of the world, jewelry. Since 1900, gold
                          challenges. The future is bright for the geosciences, from many             production has increased by a factor of seven, and per capita
                          perspectives.                                                               consumption has fluctuated but overall increased by a factor of
                                                                                                      about two.
                            Demand is high for nearly every mineral and energy resource.
                          This high demand provides many opportunities for geoscientists                Mine production of gold in 2014 reached the historically high
                          to contribute throughout the life cycles of these resources (from           amount of 2,860 metric tons, according to the U.S. Geological
                          exploration and mining to reclamation and recycling) and to                 Survey (2015). For the geological community, this is a staggering
                          continually improve environmentally responsible and economi-                amount. In comparison, the Carlin trend in Nevada (Fig. 3),
                          cally sustainable extractive activities.                                    one of the top gold-mining areas in the world, has produced
                                                                                                      ~2,500 metric tons of gold (worth approximately US$100 billion
                            Global production of copper (Fig. 1) illustrates the high demand.         at last year’s average price) in its entire history (including modern-
                          Copper is vital in modern society, primarily as a conductor of              day production after the discovery of the Carlin deposit in 1961).
                          electricity. Demand is high in part because the world population            Assuming that mine production, from hundreds of mines
                          continues to rise and in part because per capita consumption is             throughout the world, continues at this rate, geoscientists will
                          also rising (illustrated in Fig. 1 as annual mine production divided        need to find the equivalent of at least one new Carlin trend each
                          by population). More people want the conveniences that electricity          year to keep up with global demand.
                          provides—lighting, heating, motors, refrigerators, computers, etc.
                          Since 1900, world population has increased approximately four-                We are in the midst of the biggest gold-mining boom in history,
                          fold, whereas copper production has increased by a factor of 38,            both globally (Fig. 2) and in the United States (Fig. 4). The current
                          and per capita consumption has risen nine-fold. Although some               boom has exceeded previous booms in terms of total production,
                          ups and downs (due to recessions and wars) in production are                peak annual production, and longevity. Yet the world of gold mining
                          apparent, the trends are clearly toward more copper mined and               has changed. For decades the Witwatersrand in South Africa
                          more use per person each year.                                              dominated global gold production, but in 2007, China overtook
                                                                                                      South Africa to become the number 1 producer (Fig. 5). China is
                          Figure 1. Annual global copper production, 1900–2014 (production data from  the world’s most populous country, with 19% of the global popu-
                          U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Bureau of Mines; population data from U.S.  lation (Fig. 6), and if one assumes even geographic distribution of
                          Central Intelligence Agency; updated from Price, 2013).                     mineral resources, one might expect China to produce roughly
                                                                                                      19% of most commodities. China’s growth in the last decade has

     GSA Today, v. 26, no. 1, doi: 10.1130/GSAT-15PresAdrs.1.

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