Why do we need to conserve the minerals?

We all appreciate the strong dependence of industry and agriculture upon mineral deposits and the substances manufactured from them. The total volume of workable mineral deposits is an insignificant fraction i.e. one per cent of the earth’s crust. We are rapidly consuming mineral resources that required millions of years to be created and concentrated. The geological processes of mineral formation are so slow that the rates of replenishment are infinitely small in comparison to the present rates of consumption. Mineral resources are, therefore, finite and non-renewable. Rich mineral deposits are our country’s extremely valuable but short-lived possessions. Continued extraction of ores leads to increasing costs as mineral extraction comes from greater depths along with decrease in quality.