Metals, Energy and Sustainability

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

   PDF

2. Doctor Copper and King Coal

   • Barry Golding, Suzanne D. Golding

   Pages 1-20

3. Copper and Coal Resources

   • Barry Golding, Suzanne D. Golding

   Pages 21-35

4. Copper and Coal Through the Ages

   • Barry Golding, Suzanne D. Golding

   Pages 37-155

5. The Future for Copper and Coal

   • Barry Golding, Suzanne D. Golding

   Pages 157-185

6. Back Matter

   Pages 187-196

   PDF

This book explains how and where copper and fossil fuels were formed and the likely future for the extraction of copper and coal. The colourful chronology of our efforts to extract metals from minerals and energy from fossil fuels is presented from earliest times until the present day. The difficult concept of human sustainability is examined in the context of continually decreasing real prices of energy and metals. This book integrates the latest findings on our historic use of technology to continually produce cheaper metals even though ore grades have been decreasing. Furthermore, it shows that the rate of technological improvement must increase if metals are to be produced even more cheaply in the future.

• Coal Exploitation
• Copper Exploitation
• Copper Value
• Cost of Energy
• Resource Geology
• Resource Sustainability
• Supplies Mineral Resources
• Sustainability
• mineral resources

​“Another recent and excellent publication on the topic focuses on the sustainability and historical development of global coal and copper resources, defined by the authors as “critical components in our species development.” (Robert Bowell, Elements, Vol. 13 (5), October, 2017)

“A valuable resource for everyone concerned about the future availability of any material that has to be extracted from the earth. Certainly, this book should be prescribed reading for anyone who dares to pontificate on issues of sustainability. … The text is illuminated by 80 figures: graphs that effectively present in visual form the sometimes complex analyses and photographs that bring the accounts to life.” (Keith Sweatman, Bulletin Magazine, August, 2017)

“In our era, as global challenges rightly take centre stage, this book is very timely. … This highly readable book of only four chapters provides a worked example of how much insight can be obtained by rigorous scrutiny of the inter-dependencies between just two Earth resources. … The lively prose and striking colour illustrations make for an enjoyable read. … It is essential reading for anyone interested in the contemporary interface between economic geology and sustainability debates.” (Paul L. Younger, Geoscientist, geolsoc.org.uk, June, 2017)

“This book principally traces the development of copper metal as a major commodity through the ages; an element that has played, and continues to play, a major role in the technological developments that have supported civilisations over the millennia. … This is an entertaining and informative read for those interested in the technological developments that have enabled civilisations to use this important metal, and in the future supply and use of the world’s natural resources.” (Peter Hayes, Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy, Vol. 126 (3), 2017)

• Sherwood, Australia

  Barry Golding

• School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

  Suzanne D. Golding

Barry Golding commenced his mining career at Dawson Valley Colliery, a mine that supplied coal for the Mount Morgan Limited copper reverberatory furnace, in 1965.  He accepted a cadetship with Mount Morgan Limited in 1966 and completed his degree in Mining Engineering in 1968. Barry went on to work in metalliferous and coal mining in Australia and gold and chrome mining in South Africa and has worked continuously in the mining industry from 1968 onward, apart from two years in the army that included a year in Vietnam. 
Barry completed a Postgraduate Diploma of Applied Economics followed by a Master of Economics by Research in 2002.  The focus for both degrees was applying cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness techniques to resource management, incorporating risk analysis and sustainable development. In 2011 he was awarded his PhD in Economics at the University of Queensland for his thesis entitled Metals, Energy and Sustainability.


Suzanne Golding commenced her geology career at the Mount Morgan gold-copper mine in 1967. She graduated from the University of Queensland in 1970 with a first class honours degree in Geology. Suzanne worked in mineral exploration and production in Australia and gold and coal mining in South Africa throughout the 1970s. In 1982 she was awarded a PhD in Geochemistry from the University of Queensland for work on gold mineralization in the Kalgoorlie-Norseman region, Western Australia.
Suzanne has served at the University of Queensland since 1982 and is currently a Professor at its School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. She has published more than 160 journal articles and book chapters and edited a pioneering text on coal seam gas entitled Coalbed Methane: Scientific, Environmental and Economic Evaluation.

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