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As the importance and dependence of specific mineral commodities increase, so does concern about their supply. The United States is currently 100 percent reliant on foreign sources for 20 mineral commodities and imports the majority of its supply of more than 50 mineral commodities. Mineral commodities that have important uses and face potential supply disruption are critical to American economic and national security. However, a mineral commodity's importance and the nature of its supply chain can change with time; a mineral commodity that may not have been considered critical 25 years ago may be critical today, and one considered critical today may not be so in the future. The U.S. Geological Survey has produced this volume to describe a select group of mineral commodities currently critical to our economy and security. For each mineral commodity covered, the authors provide a comprehensive look at (1) the commodity's use; (2) the geology and global distribution of the mineral deposit types that account for the present and possible future supply of the commodity; (3) the current status of production, reserves, and resources in the United States and globally; and (4) environmental considerations related to the commodity's production from different types of mineral deposits. The volume describes U.S. critical mineral resources in a global context, for no country can be self-sufficient for all its mineral commodity needs, and the United States will always rely on global mineral commodity supply chains. This volume provides the scientific understanding of critical mineral resources required for informed decisionmaking by those responsible for ensuring that the United States has a secure and sustainable supply of mineral commodities.
Manganese nodules lying on the ocean floor beyond national jurisdiction and containing such strategic minerals as cobalt, copper, manganese and nickel are currently considered to constitute the highest-valued deep ocean mineral resource and regarded by many as the "common heritage of mankind". Not surprisingly, the exploitation of minerals from the sea bed was one of the most controversial issues discussed at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea from 1973 to 1982, which led to the adoption of a new Convention on the Law of the Sea in Jamaica in December of 1982. However, the still ongoing international debate on the Convention I s regime to govern deep-sea mining reveals that the central economic problems involved are far from being defi nitely settled. In view of the importance of this issue, the Kiel Institute of World Economics launched in 1980 a major research project on allocational and distributional aspects of the use of ocean resources. A comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the new Law of the Sea Convention has al ready been published (see Wilfried Prewo et al., Die Neuordnung der Meere - Eine okonomische Kritik des neuen Seerechts. Kieler Studien No. 173. Tlibingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1982).