Resource development
Resource
Natural resources are any naturally occurring aspects of the environment that can be used
by people to meet their needs. They can be either physical materials, such as fossil fuels, or
intangible, such as sunlight or wind.
● Stock resources can run out and can’t be replaced in the foreseeable future (Earth
has limited “stock”) - e.g. fossil fuels, as they take millions of years to form
● Flow resources will never run out, can be replenished and do not always require
human input to manage them - e.g. sunlight and wind (those that do require human
input, such as replanting trees in forests, are called critical flow resources)
There’s an uneven global distribution so some countries are able to produce some of the
resources from their environment, while others have to meet demands through local,
regional and global trade.
Stock resources can be expensive to extract, transport and process, while also being
extremely valuable; companies carry out an evaluation to determine if a resource is
economically viable and even physically possible to extract.
- A resource is the entire supply of a resource, while a reserve is an accessible part of
the resource that is physically possible and economically viable to extract.
● Measured reserves are reserves that have been measured and the size of it is
accurately known
● Indicated reserves are reserves that have been partly measured and the size of it
has been estimated.
● Inferred resources are resources that have been identified but haven’t been
measured - economic viability is uncertain.
● Possible resources are resources that are thought to exist but haven’t been identified
and measured through samples.
Natural resource development over time:
● Exploration: locating a potential new resource and evaluating whether it is physically
possible and economically viable to extract it
● Exploitation: extracting the resource, preparing it for use and transporting it to where
it will be used - production rapidly increases as investment into extraction and
exploration of new reserves increases
● Depletion: resource begins to run out as all the easy-to-access reserves have been
exploited and only the harder-to-reach parts remain
● Development: as reserves run out, new methods of extraction can be developed and
new reserves can be found to prolong the life of the resource
● Exhaustion: resource eventually becomes so limited that it isn’t physically possible or
economically viable to extract it anymore
A resource frontier is a place with abundant natural resources that are being exploited for the
first time and often haven’t been exploited previously as they are geographically remote or
reserves are hard to access.
, ● Often develop as conventional reserves have depleted and increasing demand make
it economically viable (necessary) to exploit them.
● As exploitation begins, new facilities, equipment, buildings and transport links are
required for extraction.
● Example - The Arctic:
○ Some areas contain rich reserves of oil, gas and minerals that haven’t been
exploited for various reasons:
■ Hard to access - high percentage are offshore reserves
■ Little infrastructure makes extraction and transportation hard
■ Environment is challenging (e.g. very cold) and fragile (e.g.
environmentalist groups object against exploitation)
○ Resources in some parts are increasingly being exploited - e.g. Trans-Alaska
pipeline built to carry oil to southern Alaska, while exploitation in other areas
has stopped due to high costs (reserves being too small for economic
viability) and environmental damage
Resource peak is the point at which the maximum production of a resource is reached
before the following depletion in subsequent years occurs.
● Stock resources follow a bell-shaped curve known as Hubbert’s Curve with the top of
it being the resource peak - at this point resource is the cheapest.
● After peak, production then begins to decline as most accessible parts have been
exhausted and only the harder-to-reach parts remain making it difficult and expensive
- prices begin to increase
● Resource eventually runs out or what remains isn’t physically possible or
economically viable to extract so production stops
● Difficult to estimate the resource peak as new technologies can allow for a 2nd peak
or a slower decline in depletion as harder-to-reach reserves can be accessed and
exploited, e.g. hydraulic fracking for unconventional gas reserves in shale.
Sustainable resource development
Use of stock resources can be made more sustainable by:
● Using less of each resource
● Increasing reuse and recycling
● Locating new reserves and ways of extracting
● Finding alternatives
.. helps to ensure that demands are met while ensuring there are supplies for future
generations and long-term environmental damage is limited.
● Example - Rossing Uranium Mine, Namibia:
○ Health and safety commitment to all workers, and monthly checks for
radioactive contamination on and around the mine
○ 98% of the workforce are Namibians who benefit from long-term contracts
with training, pensions and insurance - improves economy
○ Dust is controlled by continually spraying the open pit, roads and tracks, and
local water sources regularly tested for contamination
○ Creates a positive multiplier effect for the Namibian government - they large
suppliers to many large HICs like the UK and US
, An environmental impact assessment is carried out before development of a new resource
is started to:
● Assess the potential environmental impacts
● Determine whether is is sustainable to go ahead
● Provide any mitigating measures
● Monitor the development for any environmental impacts
Example - Lumwana Copper Project, Zambia:
● EIA found:
○ Disturbance of 9000 hectares of land, including flora and fauna
○ Contamination of surface and ground water sources due to spillages and
waste
○ Noise and air pollution due to heavy machinery and vehicles transporting
materials
● Mitigating measures:
○ Mine only operated at certain times to reduce disruption and pollution
○ Reclamation of the open pit, waste rock dumps and processing facilities
Natural resource issues
Geopolitics
Water geopolitics:
● Increasing demands due to population growth and economic development (more
water intensive lifestyles) and decreasing supplies due to increased abstraction and
global warming is leading to water shortages, especially in arid climates, which
affects socio-economic development
● Poorer countries in arid climates can’t afford to import water or invest in water supply
schemes like desalination to increase supplies, and their supplies are often
contaminated due to poor water infrastructures
● Some valuable water sources like rivers cross trans-national boundaries (e.g. River
Nile and Colorado River) so the actions of upstream regions have serious impacts on
downstream regions and lead to conflicts if not properly managed
○ Over abstraction causes reduced flows - reduces the quantity of supplies
downstream which limits their ability to meet demands and can cause
environmental damage, such as causing habitat loss, affecting nutrient
cycling and vegetation growth and even leading to desertification
○ Human activities like farming increases soil erosion and sedimentation -
reduces the quality of supplies downstream
● Climate change reducing availability in water stressed countries - governments
working together to reduce it through treaties like Paris Agreement but there is
disagreement on how it should be run and countries aren’t obliged to sign the treaty
Energy geopolitics:
● Countries that have surplus of a resource may form alliances in attempt to exert
influence on global markets and control the resource
○ These alliances control whether demands are met in other areas and can
increase prices, which may affect LICs that can’t afford to import it and
