CAB129-36 — Page 114

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prosperous concerns, out of which new developments can grow. When mining industry decays, the local knowledge and experience of miners goes with it Plocally] ancillary services and facilities are dost ;] all fof which, perhaps, could not be replaced or re-established within a decade, if subsequent events made it necessary to work mineral deposits previously thought to be uneconomic.

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reol 402. Similarly, the last War proved that a great deal of valuable time and usually fruitless effort is wasted in conducting emergency: exploratory work in an endeavour to develop quickly resources of strategic minerals uneconomic to work in peace-time and about the occurrences of which little information is available. The records of exploration financed by the Govern- ment in both the World Wars show how difficult it is under war conditions to resist pressure to investigate every potential source of supply, however small, and how much better and quicker results could have been obtained had the necessary preliminary information been available beforehand. It must not be forgotten in this connection that often it may take at least two, and perhaps three or four years, to bring to the production stage a new mine of the size likely to contribute materially to wartime needs.

403. Clearly, particular attention should be paid in peace-time to resources of such minerals as tungsten and tin ores, fluorspar and mica, all of which had considerable strategic value during the last War. It may even be desirable in certain circumstances to carry the investigation up to the point at which all essential operating data is obtained, so that when required production can be safely put in hand with the minimum of delay.

CHAPTER X

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THE NEED FOR TECHNICAL INFORM

404. Our examination of the different mineral resources of the country, summarised in Chapters III and IV, has drawn attention to the fact that over the greater part of the field which we have covered there is little information of the kind necessary for a proper assessment to be made of the future importance and economic potentialities of the resources. A great deal of detailed information about the economics of individual mineral occurrences is in the possession of private persons and firms. Some Departments, also, with wartime and present-day production responsibilities have collected a certain amount of information about particular minerals, mainly concerning production statistics, and this is generally obtained from the industries direct. In some cases a small number of technical staff or consultants are (or have been during the War) employed by such Departments to advise on particular questions of mineral production. We have already referred (para. 351) to the steps being taken by the Ministry of Town and Country Planning in regard to the collection of information, and (para. 335) to the functions of and the type of information collected by the Geological Survey.

405. So far there has been no systematic attempt on the part of the Government to collect technical information on a comprehensive basis, and covering the whole country, regarding such questions as reserves of minerals, the rate of depletion, and the economic assessment of mining and develop- ment probabilities in relation to new mineral occurrences. And yet this type of information should surely provide the essential foundation to any