Strategic resources

A nation’s strategic resources are those resources that are essential for its major industries, military defense, and energy programs. For the United States, these resources include manganese, chromium, cobalt, nickel, platinum, titanium, aluminum, and oil.

What Makes Resources “Strategic”

Reference is frequently made to strategic resources but, unfortunately, there is no general agreement on what makes resources “strategic.” Because the word “strategy” has a military connotation, strategic resources are often considered to be those resources that would be of critical importance in wartime. A somewhat broader definition of strategic resources is that they are those resources that a nation considers essential for its major industries, military defense, and energy programs. Similarly, there is no general agreement as to which of the many earth resources are strategic ones. Several authors have restricted the definition to metals that are in short supply, with some even limiting the definition to the six metals alloyed with iron in the making of steel. Others, taking a broader view, have included nonmetals among the strategic resources, including fertilizers and energy sources such as petroleum. One possible definition is that a strategic resource is any resource whose unavailability would adversely affect a nation’s ability to function.

In listing those Earth resources that are strategically significant, it is important to realize that each nation’s list will be different. In other words, a resource that is in critically short supply for one nation may be possessed in abundance by a second. Furthermore, what is considered to be a strategic resource today may not be considered one tomorrow or a hundred years from now. Before the 1970s, the opening of large Middle Eastern oil fields had driven the price of oil down to $1.30 per barrel and the price of gasoline at the pump as low as 20 cents per gallon. Excess production capacity continued until the early 1970’s, when increasing political tensions in the Middle East finally resulted in a united front on the part of the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). First came voluntary production cutbacks, then the Arab oil embargo of 1973 to 1974. Eventually, the price of oil reached $35.00 per barrel, and gasoline was selling for more than $1.50 per gallon, when it could be obtained at all. A resource that everyone had taken for granted suddenly became a strategic resource. During World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad and the attack on Pearl Harbor were both driven by the need of Germany and Japan to secure sources of oil.

Protections Against Shortages

To ensure adequate oil supplies for the United States in future emergencies, the U.S. government authorized the establishment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The purpose of this legislation was to purchase 1 billion barrels of oil and to store it in large caverns hollowed out of underground salt domes in coastal Texas and Louisiana. The creation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve illustrates an important principle. Nations can protect themselves against a possible interruption in supplies of imported strategic resources by stockpiling them during peacetime. Shortages during World War I, for example, caused the US Congress to pass the Strategic Materials Act of 1939 and to begin stockpiling tin, quartz crystals, and chromite—none of which are produced in significant amounts in the United States—in anticipation of the outbreak of another war.

Another way that a major industrial nation protects itself against possible wartime shortages of strategic materials is by arranging for access to supplies of these materials in the event of war. Frequently, this preparation will involve trade agreements with neutral nations or with nations to which a country is bound by political alliances. In extreme cases, it may be necessary to invade a neighboring nation in order to obtain access to strategic resources. The history of Alsace-Lorraine in Europe exemplifies such a situation. This important iron-mining district is traditionally French, but it shares a border with Germany. In both world wars, Germany occupied Alsace-Lorraine in order to assure access to these iron ore deposits.

A third way that a nation can ensure adequate supplies of strategic resources during wartime is to develop substitutes for scarce materials using cheap materials already available. Certain mineral resources, such as mercury and uranium, have unique properties, and for these resources, no satisfactory substitutes can be found. Some of the other metals can be synthesized from related elements but only by prohibitively expensive methods. A number of strategic resources, however, can be synthesized from cheap, readily available materials at comparatively low cost. One good example is quartz crystals, used in electronics and optics, which are now grown synthetically for industrial use. Abrasive diamonds are another material that is now made synthetically.

US Strategic Resources in Shortest Supply

The four strategic resources that would be in shortest supply in the United States were it to go to war are manganese, chromium, cobalt, and nickel. Manganese is a soft, silver-gray metal that is essential in the making of steel. Up to 7 kilograms of manganese is necessary for the production of each ton of iron or steel, and no satisfactory substitute has ever been found. Manganese removes undesired quantities of oxygen and sulfur from the iron during the steel-making process, yielding a hard, tough product suitable for bridge steel, projectiles, and armor plating. US manganese deposits are small, low in grade, and expensive to work; 95 percent of the country’s manganese is imported.

Chromium is a hard, silver-gray metal that is also essential in the making of steel and for which no satisfactory substitute has been found. Chromium makes steel resistant to corrosion and appears on the shiny, chromium-plated surfaces on automobiles. The chromium content of stainless steel varies from 12 to 30 percent. Chromium-steel alloys are also used in aircraft engines, military vehicles, and weapons. The United States has large, low-grade deposits of chromium ore in Montana, but they are expensive to process. Consequently, 90 percent of its chromium is imported, primarily from South Africa.

Cobalt is a silver-white metal that is also needed in steel making. The addition of small quantities of cobalt makes steel harder and heat-resistant. Consequently, cobalt steel has important applications in the manufacture of metal-cutting tools, jet engines, and rockets. Cobalt alloys are magnetic, and the magnetism is retained permanently; therefore, these alloys are used for the manufacture of magnets. The United States has a small cobalt production from low-grade ores in Missouri, but 90 percent of its cobalt is imported, primarily from the country of Zaire, in Africa.

Nickel is a nearly white metal that is another important alloying agent in the making of steel. Nickel steels do not corrode or rust, so large quantities of nickel are used in the manufacture of stainless steel. Nickel is also used in plating because of its shine, in coinage (as in the familiar nickel coin), and for alloys that have important applications in the defense industry. The United States has very few high-grade nickel ore deposits, but there is a large, low-grade deposit in Minnesota. About 80 percent of its nickel is imported from Canada, the world’s largest nickel producer.

Additional mineral resources that might be in short supply in the United States during wartime include platinum, titanium, and aluminum. Platinum has valuable chemical properties, because it resists corrosion and acts as a catalyst to speed chemical reactions. Titanium is a silver-gray metal used as an alloy. Because it imparts great strength, heat resistance, and resistance to corrosion, it is used in the construction of supersonic aircraft, jet engines, and space capsules. The major use for aluminum was in beverage cans, with more than 180 billion produced worldwide in 2023. Future resources that may become critically short include rare-earth elements, which are important in electronics. Many nations produce rare-earths, but virtually all of the world’s refining capacity is in China. The United States is 100 percent dependent on imports for rare-earth elements. Another resource that might become critical in the future is lithium, which is essential for rechargeable batteries.

Estimating Reserves

Strategic resources can be studied in a variety of ways. The first is to identify which of the various Earth resources are in shortest supply. That is done by analyzing production and usage figures for each of a nation’s industrially important minerals in order to determine how much the nation relies on imports for each of these materials. When usage exceeds production, the nation is relying on imports. The greater the reliance on imports, the more strategic the resource becomes.

A second way in which one can study strategic resources is to identify resources that are adequate at present but that may become scarce in the future; this is done by estimating reserves. A reserve is a supply of a mineral substance that still remains in the ground and is available to be extracted at some future time. Two types of reserve can be distinguished: proven reserves and undiscovered reserves. Proven reserves are reserves that have already been outlined by drilling or some other means; there is practically no risk of the desired substance’s not being there. Undiscovered reserves, in contrast, are reserves that are believed to be present on the basis of geologic studies but are still inadequately explored.

Search for Expanded Supplies

A third way of studying strategic resources is to begin a search for expanded supplies before current reserves are exhausted or before imports have become unavailable because of wartime conditions. Various methods have been employed for increasing the supply of a strategic resource. They include stockpiling, trade agreements (or territorial annexation, in extreme cases), manufacture of synthetics or the substitution of other substances, and the development of conservation or recycling programs.

Two additional avenues have also become available in the search for expanded supplies of strategic resources. One is the use of the plate tectonics theory, which proposes that Earth’s surface is divided into a few large plates that are slowly moving with respect to one another. Intense geologic activity occurs at plate boundaries, and many mineral deposits are believed to have been formed by such activity. Much exploration for new deposits of strategic resources is being concentrated at plate boundaries. A second new avenue is the exploration of the deep-sea floor. Although manganese nodules were discovered on the deep-sea floor by the Challenger expedition in the late 1800s, it was not until the advent of manned submersibles and remote-controlled television cameras that it was realized that 15 percent or more of the ocean floor may be covered by such nodules. They have valuable amounts of iron, nickel, manganese, cobalt, and other strategically important substances. As exploration of the deep-sea floor continues, other supplies of strategic resources may be found there as well.

Conservation Measures

Because a nation’s strategic resources would be of critical importance in wartime, one would expect not to hear much about them in peacetime. They are substances that must be imported, however, and excessive imports lead to trade deficits. As a result, a government may resort to conservation measures in order to reduce such imports. A good example is the American program for recycling aluminum beverage cans. This program has two objectives: to reduce U.S. imports of costly aluminum ore, and to conserve the large amounts of electricity needed to process aluminum ore.

In troubled times, such as the 1973-1974 Arab oil embargo and the ensuing energy crisis, measures aimed at conserving strategic resources become very noticeable to the general public. To reduce oil consumption, Americans were asked to turn down their thermostats, the nationwide speed limit was reduced to 55 miles per hour, and automobile companies were told to improve the gas mileage of their cars, which led to a whole new generation of midsized cars. Furthermore, ripple effects caused by the oil shortage spread through the economy, triggering a recession, costing people their jobs, and setting off a stock market decline. Overseas, the value of the dollar declined against other currencies, and soon American tourists found themselves paying more for a hotel room or a meal.

In wartime, the need to conserve strategic resources may even result in rationing. This happened in the United States during World War II. Each driver was given a ration card entitling him or her to purchase a certain number of gallons of gasoline each week; drivers were placed in different categories depending on whether they drove for pleasure or to work.

Principal Terms

alloy: a substance composed of two or more metals, or a metal and certain nonmetals

catalyst: a chemical substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without being permanently affected by that reaction

manganese nodules: rounded, concentrically laminated masses of iron and manganese oxide found on the deep-sea floor

oil rights: the ownership of the oil and natural gas on another party’s land, with the right to drill for and remove them

ore deposit: a natural accumulation of mineral matter from which the owner expects to extract a metal at a profit

proven reserve: a reserve supply of a valuable mineral substance that can be exploited at a future time

salt dome: an underground structure in the shape of a circular plug resulting from the upward movement of salt

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