New technologies, industrial restructuring and changing patterns of metal comsumption

References

• 1984 . See Structural Change in the Metal Industries: Understanding the Role of Demand – A program of Research , 2 Department of Mineral Economics, Pennsylvania State University . Fortunately, Prof Tilton is currently launching a research programme which is aimed at filling the knowledge gap on such an important subject
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• See the sources in Table 5, below
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• 5 – 7 . Op cit
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• A pertinant digression here is for pointing-out the little knowledge available about the metals-consuming intensity of the so-called “informal economy”, which importance in developing countries is estimated to be rising very rapidly. Given the spread of very business-oriented workshops or small factories within that kind of economy, not uncommonly connected to formal plants and businesses through quite tied yet clandestine linkages, it would not be too surprising that the “informal economy” might have an actual metals-consuming intensity higher than what can be imagined at first glance
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• Landsberg , H H . 1976 . “Materials: Some Recent Trends and Issues” . In Materials: Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources , Edited by: Abelson , P and Hammond , A L . Washington, DC : American Association for the Advancement of Science . See, for instance and W A Vogeley, Non-Fuel Resources, A Report to Resources for the Future (Washington, DC, 1976)
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• A recent survey on British manufacturing firms shows that in 1983 almost half of them (30 per cent in 1981) were already using or have actual programmes to use high-technology equipment. The Federal Republic of Germany announced last year an ambitious programme to foster its fabrication of high-technology electronic equipment, through the combination of public procurement policies and decentralized linkages between firms and research centers. And the promotion of small-or-medium sized firms in high-technology activities is a key component of the present economic policy in France. See Jim Northcott and Petra Rogers, Microelectronics in British Industry: the pattern of change (London, Policy Studies Institute, 1984); Business Week, 1984–04–09, pp 41–42; Shawn Tully, “Mitterrand's Risky New Right Turn”, Fortune, 1984–04–30, pp 164 and 170
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• Kaplinsky , Rafael . 1982 . The impact of electronics on the international economic setting: the use of computer-aided design Vienna UNIDO/15.257, For valuable industry case studies supporting these findings see, for instance United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations, Transnational corporations in the international semiconductor industry New York, ST/CTC/39, 1982); Frederick Williams, The Communications Revolution (California, Sage, 1982); and Olivier Pastré and Joelle Toledano, Généralisation de l'Automation et Effects sur l'Emploi (Paris, Université de Paris-Nord, Centre de Recherches en Economie Industrielle, October 1978)
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• Steinberg , Bruce . 1984 . “The Military boost to Industry” . Fortune , 04–30 : 44 – 45 . Military spending in research and development represented around one third of the total US spending in R&D in 1984. The Pentagon contracts and procurement programmes have considerably attenuated the early 1980s recession impact on the aerospatial, computer, scientific instruments and communications industries. And US military spending in durable goods projected until 1987 may account for almost half the forecasted growth in the aerospatial industry, as well as for around 20 per cent of estimated growth in the cases of the electronic, refining and metals fabrication industries. See
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• US Bureau of Mines . 1983 . Minerals and Materials , April/May : 5 Tab 4 and Between 1967 and 1982, the US mining industry increased the amount of electricity used to produce each dollar of GNP by 0.6 kwh. The increasing use of processes requiring electricity in benefication and smelting, the need for more electricity use as the quality of ore decreases, and the preference for smaller plants in lieu of large plant, being among the specific factors contributing to such a trend. See
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• US Bureau of Mines . 1981 . Minerals Yearbook , 1982 and 1983 issues. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that most special use metals have demand movements even more cyclically pronounced than those of major non-ferrous metals. In 1980–83, for instance, in spite of the fact that US investment in high-technology equipment continued to rise relatively fast, the demand in that country for high-technology or special alloy metals declined significantly more (in a range of between −6.4 per cent annual rate for beryllium to −22.8 per cent annual rate for molybdenum) than for non-ferrous metals (ranging form −6.9 per cent for tin to a positive 1.2 per cent for lead). See corresponding data in
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• United States Bureau of Mines . 1983 . Minerals and Materials , April/May : 3 Table 3 and Not incidentally, a recent analysis of inter-industrial structural changes in the United States economy between 1972 and 1979 concludes that industrial minerals have been far less impacted than non-ferrous metal ores mining and primary manufacturing industries, as well as than primary iron and steel manufacturing. See
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• The share of state-owned firms in the total sales of the 500 largest western world firms increased from 2.4 per cent in 1962 to 7.8 per cent in 1979, and 40 among them operated virtually as transnational firms in 1981 with sales of G USD of more each. (UNCTC, op cit, E.83.II.A. 14, pp 50–51). The share of public expenditures in the GDP of developed market economies increased persistently during the last two decades, and especially in the seventies: 29.3 per cent in 1961, 33.3 per cent in 1971 and 40.9 per cent in 1981 (The World Bank, World Development Report – 1984, Table 2.3)
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• Stocks of main mining and processing TNCs registered record lows (second after construction firms) at the New York Stock Exhange between 1981–1982. 1983 was a booming year for the New York and London metal markets, but the wave of high-risk speculative investments or operations resulted in unexpected unfavourable price movements in 1984. See, The New York Times, 1982–08–08, p F2; Financial Times, 1983–10–11, p 24 and 1984–10–09, p 13
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• US Bureau of Mines . October–November 1983 . Minerals and Materials October–November , 1 See Survey of Current Business, April 1984, Table 6.20 and Business Week, 4/30/84, p 74., Table 1
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• 1983 . For instance, Phelps Dodge negotiated new wages and benefits that cut labour costs by about 10 per cent . Business Week , 09–26 : 39
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• Robert , J and Wyllie , M . 1983 . “Japan: equipment and know-how in the world of mining” . World Mining , October : 71 – 89 . draulic drifters and jumbos (Furakawa) and continuous copper smelting and converting process (Mitsubishi), are given in For the Australian case, see R Lane White Michael P Sassos and C Brian Gomez, “Australian Mining: innovating to stay competitive”, Engineering and Mining Journal, November 1983, pp 38–43.
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• Developed country' governments and TNCs are nonetheless concerned by the extreme concentration of some speciality metal's supplies from one or few countries. This is the case of cobalt, for instance, which substitution by other metals has been stimulated by supply disruptions and sharp price increases in 1978–1980, due to political and economic problems in Zaire, the biggest supplier. And in the cases of vanadium, chromium, manganese and platine, the problem is the very strong concentration of reserves and production in the USSR and South Africa
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• UNCTC . November 1984 . International Investments in the Non-fuel Minerals Industry: main trends and recent developments November , 5 and 10 New York In a previous work, we have already discussed the role of concern over security of supply in explaining the shift of US and some European direct investments abroad away from developing countries and toward “safe” industrialized countries (such as Canada, Australia, South Africa, and the US itself), that occurred since the 1950s. See
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• From 6.0 per cent to 5.8 per cent in the case of US investment abroad during 1980–82. From 28.3 per cent to 26.2 per cent in the case of Japanese foreign investments in the same period. And from 19.7 per cent to 12 per cent in the case of the Federal Republic of Germany, between 1979–81. UNCTC, idem, Table I-5.
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• 15.7 per cent during 1966–75 and 13.5 per cent in 1976–80. Developing countries' share in US book value of direct investment in mining and smelting decrease from 53 per cent in 1960 to 33 per cent in 1980, and oscillated between 15–30 per cent of total mining expenditures made by major European TNCs during 1966–80. Japan being the exception, as developing countries increased their share in that country total mining investments, from 50 per cent before 1973 to 64 per cent in 1980. UNCTC, idem, Table I-2 and p 12.
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• UNCTC . idem, Tables I-3 and I-5.
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• 1984 . Mining Magazine , January : 58 See and passim; and UNCTC, idem, pp 19–20
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• 1984 . Industrial Minerals , March : 75 An example is the Nippon Kokan technical license agreement with ASEA AB, to manufacture in the ASEAN area hot and cold isostatic presses, used in fabricating new materials such as fine ceramics and sintered alloys
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• González-Vigil , Fernando . “Re-structuración Internacional e Industrialisación Periférica” . Economia de América Latina , 43 45 – 46 . For a discussion of this and other counteracting factors to the general tendency in favour of locating high value-added mineral processing in industrialized nations, see (Mexico City–Buenos Aires, CIDE-IPAL, Second semester 1984)
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• 1983 . Mining Magazine , July : 3 As quoted in
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• Brown , Andrew C . 1983 . “Alcan Shakes the Aluminium Market” . Fortune , 02–21 : 124s Business Week, 1984–01–23, p 54
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• The World Bank . op cit, Tables 38 and 40
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• Kellog , Herbert H . 1983 . “Metal Production: a time to reflect” . Journal of Metals , May
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• Giraud , Pierre-Noel . Paris 1983 . Géopolitique des Ressources Minières , Paris , 652 – 655 . Economica . For a comparison of the relative economic performances of mineral and non-mineral developing economies, see
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