strategically important minerals. As a colony of Portugal, no international policy
was needed to exploit those rich areas. Another very actual illustration is the Paris
Agreement on climate change. In accordance with the Treaty on the Functioning of
the European Union, the EU is competent to implement the obligations resulting
therefrom, among others preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the
environment; protecting human health; prudent and rational utilization of natural
resources; promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or
worldwide environmental problems, and in particular combating climate change.
A second critique of the classic two-dimensional model is that technology and
mineral prices both lie on the same Y-axis while prospection has its own axis (the
X-axis). Until recently the cost of technological progress indeed reflected the
mineral prices on the world markets. Nowadays prices are no longer only dependent
of the cost of technology. They are increasingly influenced by the prices on the
world markets for crude minerals. In some cases big amounts of stocks are even
deliberately kept back for speculative or strategic reasons. A good example was the
price increase of crude oil on the world market since the end of the 1990s and the
influence OPEC-countries can exert on price-setting. On the other hand prospection
is actually influenced to a strong degree by technological progress. Instead of being
individually represented on the X-axis like it is the case in the two-dimensional
vision, it should be better treated together with the technological aspects on the
Y-axis.
The incorporation on one hand of three important additional factors (legislation,
political circumstances and environmental management) and the rearrangement on
the other hand of the fundamental parameters (prospection, technology and price)
lead to a more contemporary and more precise vision of exploitation project
analyses which concords in a better way with the current situation. A threedimensional model, where those quite important additional elements, factors and
arguments are taken into consideration, is an actualized vision of the traditional
two-dimensional model (Fig. 39.2).
The X-axis of the three-dimensional model reflects the new supplementary
influencing factors, namely politics, jurisdiction and a greater regard for the environment. For example the extraction of a certain identified mineral resource that
would produce an acceptable turnover in financial terms, might nevertheless not be
carried out because it would mean too heavy a load for the environment. The
reserves could subsequently shrink because of the implementation of stricter
environmental standards. Another cause of exploitation project failure could be
discordance with laws, ordinances and regulations (local, national or even
international).
On the Y-axis one finds both the technological aspects and the geological
certainty. Technological improvements influence both exploitation material and
prospection techniques in a positive way. Finally the Z-axis reflects the price at
which the exploitation of a certain mineral resource is economically feasible or not.
For example oil shales and tar sands have not been exploited for years although
extraction techniques were existing just because the global extraction costs were
too high to be profitably exploited at the world market prices in that period.
648
A.C. Thys
was needed to exploit those rich areas. Another very actual illustration is the Paris
Agreement on climate change. In accordance with the Treaty on the Functioning of
the European Union, the EU is competent to implement the obligations resulting
therefrom, among others preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the
environment; protecting human health; prudent and rational utilization of natural
resources; promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or
worldwide environmental problems, and in particular combating climate change.
A second critique of the classic two-dimensional model is that technology and
mineral prices both lie on the same Y-axis while prospection has its own axis (the
X-axis). Until recently the cost of technological progress indeed reflected the
mineral prices on the world markets. Nowadays prices are no longer only dependent
of the cost of technology. They are increasingly influenced by the prices on the
world markets for crude minerals. In some cases big amounts of stocks are even
deliberately kept back for speculative or strategic reasons. A good example was the
price increase of crude oil on the world market since the end of the 1990s and the
influence OPEC-countries can exert on price-setting. On the other hand prospection
is actually influenced to a strong degree by technological progress. Instead of being
individually represented on the X-axis like it is the case in the two-dimensional
vision, it should be better treated together with the technological aspects on the
Y-axis.
The incorporation on one hand of three important additional factors (legislation,
political circumstances and environmental management) and the rearrangement on
the other hand of the fundamental parameters (prospection, technology and price)
lead to a more contemporary and more precise vision of exploitation project
analyses which concords in a better way with the current situation. A threedimensional model, where those quite important additional elements, factors and
arguments are taken into consideration, is an actualized vision of the traditional
two-dimensional model (Fig. 39.2).
The X-axis of the three-dimensional model reflects the new supplementary
influencing factors, namely politics, jurisdiction and a greater regard for the environment. For example the extraction of a certain identified mineral resource that
would produce an acceptable turnover in financial terms, might nevertheless not be
carried out because it would mean too heavy a load for the environment. The
reserves could subsequently shrink because of the implementation of stricter
environmental standards. Another cause of exploitation project failure could be
discordance with laws, ordinances and regulations (local, national or even
international).
On the Y-axis one finds both the technological aspects and the geological
certainty. Technological improvements influence both exploitation material and
prospection techniques in a positive way. Finally the Z-axis reflects the price at
which the exploitation of a certain mineral resource is economically feasible or not.
For example oil shales and tar sands have not been exploited for years although
extraction techniques were existing just because the global extraction costs were
too high to be profitably exploited at the world market prices in that period.
648
A.C. Thys