Scarcity of mineral resources: consequences for exploitation, sustainability and technological development

Abstract

The increase in world population and the demand for technologies have exponentially increased the consumption of mineral resources, putting their availability for future generations at risk. The objective of this study is to know the state of academic production on resource scarcity and evaluate its consequences on exploitation, sustainability and technological development. A systematized bibliographic review was developed using the Scopus, WoS and SciELO databases. 57 documents were analyzed that cover topics such as the environmental impact of extraction, reuse strategies, criticality evaluations and regulatory policies for mining activity. It is concluded that the main factors of resource scarcity are related to the lack of regulations, the growing demand for new technologies and discrepancy in criticality estimation methods. There is a need to look for extraction alternatives and promote material recovery strategies.

Keywords

• scarcity
• mineral resources
• mining exploitation
• sustainability
• technological development