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No we are not running out. There's a lot, its just not profitable to mine. Just like there is almost infinite gold in the earth
by eldenwrong 4y ago
No we are not running out. There's a lot, its just not profitable to mine.
Just like there is almost infinite gold in the earth
- lisper 4y agoThere isn't infinite anything on earth. Earth is finite. And running out of resources that are economically viable to access is effectively the same as running out. (Also, helium is a by-product of crude oil production, and so its production has some rather dramatic externalities.)
- rfrey 4y agoYour parent obviously knows the definition of "infinite", pedantry isn't helpful. We ran out of $15 oil quite some time ago. That was not the same as running out of oil. "Economically viable" is not a static target.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y agoThe earth is very deep. We are only mining the very tip of it. There are thousands of miles of unmined resources down there. That’s not infinite but a lot. And sure, we can’t get to it today, but who knows what 100 or 200 years will bring.
- Gustomaximus 4y agoI heard a line once that was if the earth was an apple we are yet to mine past the skin. So a heap of exploration potential plus the off planet side.
- HPsquared 4y agoBarely scratching the surface, so to speak. There's a lot of earth under our feet!
- lixtra 4y ago$15 might still be the extraction price in Saudi Arabia. https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/19/you-wont-believe-what-saudi-arabias-oil-production.aspx https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/19/you-wont-believe-w...
- HPsquared 4y agoOil at that price can't supply the entire market, though (unless they're just being really prudent).
- dredmorbius 4y agoNo. But oil at that cost provides a huge land-rent income to the Saudis when world (market) oil prices top $50, $100, $150, $200, ... bbl. KSA's extraction price remains $15. The rest is pure profit to them. (Discounting the hundreds of millions of years of geological accumulation and transformation which created the resource in the first place. See "Burning Buried Sunshine" by Jeffrey S. Dukes, 2003. https://dge.carnegiescience.edu/DGE/Dukes/Dukes_ClimChange1.pdf https://dge.carnegiescience.edu/DGE/Dukes/Dukes_ClimChange1.... (PDF).)
- lanna 4y agoWhat is economically viable to access is constantly shifting, either due to technology improvements or increased demand (hence prices).
- RandomWorker 4y agorecommended read https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2012/04/economist-meets-physicist/ https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2012/04/economist-meets-physicist...
- IntrepidWorm 4y agoYes, you are correct. Contrary to gold, however, which is largely useless and ornamental (aside from some marginal use in microelectronics), helium is necessary for a large amount of critical medical infrastructure, as well as research at cryogenic temperatures, superconductors, etc. To see helium steeply rise in price according to supply and demand would spell disaster for many of these applications.
- lisper 4y agoAlso, gold doesn't spontaneously escape into space if it's not contained.
- amlib 4y agoBut it might get robbed if not properly secured..
- lisper 4y agoUnless it's robbed by space aliens, that doesn't diminish the recoverable supply.
- dredmorbius 4y agoThat all depends on the temperature ;-)
- lisper 4y agoIf that ever becomes a factor, helium (and gold for the matter) will be the least of our worries.
- dredmorbius 4y agoOn the bright side, there would probably be no worries.
- teruakohatu 4y ago
- JoeAltmaier 4y agoMoot. With natural resources, it's entirely about the cost of recovery. Nothing else matters. Who cares the core of the Earth is all iron, if it's eternally unavailable? What matters is $/ton.