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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 14, 1985
PAGE 7
Yet, it is not without reason that minerals have been called the
bedrock of civilization and, throughout history, the stepping
stones of human destiny. Without minerals, we would have no fac
tories or offices•••no schools or hospitals•••no highways or
railroads or planes•••no communications networks or energy sys
tems•••no means of equipping the military that defends us or cul
tivating the agriculture that feeds us •••no human habitat more
advanced than the one that preceded the Stone Age. It can truly
be said that .2!!!: horn of plenty begins with� hole in the ground.
Mr. Overton then had a few words to counter the claims and charges of en
vironmental extremists who have brought much pressure to bear on elected
representatives to severely curtail mining operations and even minerals
exploration, especially on public land:
What cannot truly be said, despite the outcry of assorted zeal
ots, is that all our material bounty has been bought at the ex
pense of raping and ruining the land. Moreover, we ought to re
member that over the entire history of this nation, with all the
material blessings that mining has produced, only a fraction of
one percent of the land's surface has ever been touched ,by a
miner's pick.
From this small area of our land we.have produced the stuff to
make the things with which to fight all our wars in defense of our
liber£ies, build our cities--our nation--rebuild Europe twice and
Japan once.
Reflecting on this, one could well paraphr·ase
Churchill and say: Never Has So Little Yielded So Much to So
Many.
Mr. Overton reiterated this in the question-and-answer period following his
speech when he said that Americans "have forgotten that it takes stuff to
make things." It's too easy to expect that the length of copper wire that
you need will always be in the hardware store when you want it. People just
don't stop to think that a several-years-long process is involved from the
point of minerals exploration to on-site development, to extraction, smelt
ing and manufacture of the primary products. Moreover, the basic compo
nents of the minerals process--the mines themselves, the smelters, the
stamping plants--cannot be, as he said, "turned on and off like a spigot.
Once lost, it will take years--if ever--to recover it."
Throughout the minerals industry there is a severe double crisis of unem
ployment and depressed prices--in the case of copper, the lowest price
(adjusted for inflation) since the 1930s. As a result, whole operations
have shut down, and remaining industrial giants such as AMAX and Phelps
Dodge are rapidly diversifying into other fields in a desperate attempt to
hang onto their presently unprofitable mining operations.
Conservation, materials substitution (the ongoing plastics revolution), and
low-cost, subsidized foreign production are all key factors.
Taken to
gether, they present a bleak picture for America:
In this volatile and turbulent time in the world, the alarming
fact remains: The U.S. is losing its mining, minerals and miner-
als processing base. Petroleum refineries--nonferrous smelters
and refineries--steel making capacity--large stamping mills--ma-