Issues associated with the concept of peak minerals include: Giurco et al. (2009)[8] indicate that the debate about how to analytically describe resource depletion is ongoing.
So, although metals are not facing exhaustion, they have become more challenging to obtain in the quantities that society demands, and the energy, environmental and social cost of acquiring them could constrain future increases in production and usage.
[11] Given increasing global population and rapidly growing consumption (especially in China and India), frameworks for the analysis of resource depletion can assist in developing appropriate responses.
In establishing the peak oil model, Hubbert was primarily focused on arguing that a planned transition was required to ensure future energy services.
[13] Only limited substantive work is currently undertaken to examine how the concepts and assumptions of peak oil can be extrapolated so as to be applied to minerals in general.
Such consideration is particularly important if the industry is seeking to operate in a socially, environmentally and economically sustainable manner into the next 30–50 years.
[18][19][20] As neither overall stocks nor future markets are known, most economists normally do not consider physical scarcity as a good indicator for the availability of a resource for society.
Key environmental indicators that reflect increasingly expensive production are primarily associated with the decline in average ore grades of many minerals.
[20][24] Negative relationships with near neighbours influence companies' ability to establish and maintain a social license to operate within the community.
[25] Access to identified resources is likely to become harder as questions are asked about the benefit from the regional economic development mining is reputed to bring.