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It seems intuitively obvious that infinite growth on a finite planet is impossible. At some point we will to start running out of the things we need to make our lives work. What is not intuitively obvious is that, while our demand for the material resources that make our world function is growing exponentially, our ability to find and extract those resources is become more and more labor and energy intensive.

We’ve all, no doubt, given at least a passing thought to peak oil. But what about peak steel, or peak copper, some of the countless other minerals and resources that are integral to our advanced, industrialized society?

Our challenge is that, while we need more and more resources to continue on our path of exponential growth, these resources are getting harder and harder to find and process. Consider the quality of copper ore (Source Journal of Cleaner Production).

• In the 19_^th century, the quality of readily available copper ore was a rich 40%. This means that 100 tons of ore were needed to yield 40 tons of copper.
• In the 20^th century, the ore grade dropped to 4%. That means they had to mine 1,000 tons of ore to get 40 tons of copper.
• Now, in the 21^st century, ore grades are around 0.4%, meaning that they must mine 100,000 tons of or get the same 40 tons of copper.

Copper is a critical ingredient in everything related to electricity. All of this extra mining requires more equipment, more diesel fuel, and more time. We are quickly running up against the limits of our ability to keep up.

Simon Michaux is one of the primary authorities on minerals and this availability. This conversation with Nate Hagens is a wide-ranging introduction to our “mineral blindness.” Simon has many other presentations, lectures, and interviews on YouTube that cover the topic in varying levels of details.