Non-stop: the growing demand for commodities such as iron ore and copper is forcing industry to contemplate production on a scale never imagined before
Dig deep for innovation
TO MANY of us in the UK the word
mining conjures up images of our
industrial history — the coal fields
of Yorkshire and South Wales or
the tin mines of Cornwall.
That heritage is important, but
any perception that the mining
industry is relevant to the nation’s
past and not its future is seriously
wide of the mark.
For the past few centuries the
UK, Europe and the other Western
economies have had more or less a
clear run at the world’s mined
resources.
Whether iron ore, copper or
coal, if we needed it we got it, and
if we didn’t need it the mining
industry caught a severe cold.
Those days are over, as this
issue’s feature the ‘Mine of the
Future’ (page 22) makes clear. The
projections the industry’s experts
are working on are breathtaking.
Each of us in the UK accounts
for the use of about 400kg of steel.
In China the figure is 200kg and
rising. As its infrastructure
expands it is expected to race past
the 400kg mark and up to a potential
peak of 1,000kg per head
before it begins to fall back. There
are about 60 million people in the
UK. There are about 1.3 billion in
China. That is a lot of steel.
As our feature makes clear,
this level of demand — we haven’t
even mentioned India, Brazil and
the EnGIneeR 14–27 JULY 2008 5
the Middle East — is forcing the
industry to contemplate production
on a scale never imagined before.
Inevitably, technical innovation is
the key to achieving this goal and it
is pleasing to know that some of
the leading research in the field is
going on in the UK.
The massive demands being
placed on the mining industry, and
the consequent pressure on
engineers and technologists to
meet them, are mirrored across
many sectors.Whether it is the
need to provide more energy to
more industrial capacity more
cleanly and cost-effectively, or help
a larger, older population to live
healthier lives, the world is posing
historic questions and is relying on
technology to provide the answers.
As living standards rise
towards Western levels in
economies that previously
consumed tiny amounts of the
Earth’s resources, those of us who
once had first call on them will find
ourselves in a queue.
Indeed, we may be witnessing
nothing less than an epic shift of
power from West to East.
The UK’s place in this new
world will depend to a large extent
on how our innovators — our
engineers, technologists and
scientists — can help to shape it.
COMMENT
Andrew Lee, editor
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