Opportunities For The Less Developed Nations In The Mineral Resource Field

The less developed nations maintaining a free enterprise economy (to which this chapter is addressed) have real and substantial opportunities to lay a foundation for general economic progress by using their mineral resources. Most of these nations have mineral resources which could be developed. By seizing these opportunities, nations seeking rapid economic development can secure a source of foreign exchange earnings to finance the imports needed for growth and, at the same time, increase the technical knowledge and well-being of an important part of their population. History clearly shows the manner in which most of the currently industrialized nations have used mineral resources to support their development. Indeed, few nations have managed to achieve a high level of income without a firm base of mineral resource development. The main exceptions appear to be the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, and New Zealand, and the last two have based their prosperity on a highly efficient agriculture. Economic growth in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, and Russia was importantly based on the use of indigenous mineral resources. Despite this record of accomplishment through mineral development, many of the currently less developed nations are not taking advantage of the opportunities available in the mineral field. Restrictive laws or practices in many such nations operate effectively to prevent development of mineral resources. This failure to grasp real opportunities for development is based on a series of arguments that the mineral field offers few substantial and attainable advantages. Among these, the following propositions appear the most important: