88
洲
550
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
TIN AND COPPER
YEARLY AVERAGE METAL PRICES [LONDON]
POUNDS
STERLING
Page 113
Page 11830
1880
1885
1890
1895
1900
1905
1910
TIN
1915
COPPER
1920
1925
PAGEVOE OF WRGVI
NO MARKHET
M
NO MARKET PRICES
1930 Page 1139 of 6625
✓
I
Ji
4
༔་
a great deal can and should be done to ensure that all reasonable pre- cautions age taken toguard against the hazards of age futuref Ophis is particularly important when the lack of adequate precautions for instance, insufficient exploratory information or lack of adequate finance leads to the establishment of technically unsound developments, premature closures, and loss or misuse of resources. There have been too many instances in the past where too much money has been spent on flotation expenses and surface installations, and too little on finding out first the extent and value of the mineral deposit to be workedap qoisvab da movagbuo te it wow. $399. The foundation on which Government policy should be built up in this respect must be adequate technical information, and this can only be obtained in a large proportion of cases by systematic exploration of favour- able areas selected with due regard to geological and other considerations. Once the information is available, then most questions become a matter of what is or is not, good mining practice. In principle there should be no conflict between the desire of the Nation, having the ownership of the minerals, to secure efficient development and proper utilisation, and of private enterprise to extract the minerals at a profit. In practice, of course, it would be necessary for the Government to have powers,, additional to those at present provided by the Town and Country Planning Acts, for use when necessary in the national interest to secure the ends in view, exer- cised directly by, the Minister responsible for mineral development, through an appropriate technical organisation. Such powers must include the right to prevent the flotation of technically unsound or insufficiently financed projects, the approval of mining development plans, and the authority to secure amalgamation of undertakings or of mineral tenures or leases if desirable for technical or economic reasons. It would be necessary also in certain cases for arrangements to be possible whereby temporarily un- economic undertakings could be maintained in production, for instance, by the provision of new plant, or by the Government contracting to purchase output at an agreed figure for a specified period. Such arrangements would normally be justified on strategic grounds, but might also be in the national interest if for any reason premature closure prejudiced future development of minerals in the immediate vicinity.
T
Nationalisation of Mineral Rightshasthann
j
400. It will be apparent that the proposals we have discussed above are hardly compatible with a continuation of the functions normally exercised by mineral owners in regard to mineral leases, or by mineral owners working their own minerals. They give added support, on the other hand, to the recommendation already made in Chapter VIII to nationalise the MDC mineral rights and vest them in an organisation responsible for the adminis- tration of all questions of mineral tenure and with the additional technical function of securing the "co-ordinated, orderly, and economic development of minerals. The acquisition of the mineral rights, in fact if not in sub- stance already accomplished under the Town and Country Planning Acts, should be completed, in a manner similar to that already effected in the case of petroleum (Petroleum (Production) Act, 1934) and coal (Coal Act, 1938). This will secure the unification of all questions concerning mineral development under a properly qualified and largely technical organisation which will act, in effect, as a national landlord for minerals.
"
Strategic Considerations
„Moldout, done withreys:
3
!
401. Experience during wartime has made most nations realise that it is quite impossible to revive quickly or to increase the mineral production of industries which do not contain at least a nucleus of sound, efficient and