Table 1 Descriptive statistics for reserve/production ratio data for a selected range of commodities27,28,29 from 1956 to 2018 and from 1987 to 2018 (with continuous data available for the latter period).

From: Future availability of non-renewable metal resources and the influence of environmental, social, and governance conflicts on metal production

Commodity

All data

1987–2018

Slope

R2

Mean

STDEV

Trend

Slope

R2

Mean

STDEV

Trend

Antimony

−0.97

−0.76

36.9

24.1

Null

−1.97

−0.84

26.2

21.9

D

Bauxite

−0.72

−0.25

168

57.3

Null

−4.80

−0.97

159

46.6

D

Bismuth

0.62

0.66

32.7

16.2

Null

0.41

0.25

38.6

14.5

Null

Cadmium

−0.17

−0.26

31.6

11.9

Null

−0.01

−0.03

27.8

2.98

Null

Chromium

−33.2

−0.90

790

659

D

−19.8

−0.52

349

322

D

Cobalt

0.03

0.01

117

41.9

Null

−3.14

−0.69

125

42.5

D

Copper

−0.27

−0.52

40.5

10.1

Null

0.14

0.27

34.3

4.83

Null

Gold

−0.22

−0.80

21.8

5.05

Null

−0.12

−0.61

19.0

1.85

Null

Ilmenite

−2.89

−0.51

143

111

D

2.55

0.80

85.7

29.7

I

Indium

−0.88

−0.89

16.9

10.5

Null

−0.70

−0.69

12.3

6.28

Null

Iron Ore

−3.36

−0.68

184

96.8

D

−3.48

−0.94

123

34.7

D

Lead

−0.07

−0.19

22.2

6.8

Null

−0.15

−0.67

20.4

2.05

Null

Lithium

4.08

0.28

292

107

I

4.08

0.28

292

107

I

Manganese

−5.22

−0.55

138

170

D

−2.74

−0.86

65.8

29.9

D

Molybdenum

−0.46

−0.42

54.7

21.0

Null

−0.02

−0.03

47.1

8.03

Null

Nickel

−1.81

−0.81

70.0

43.9

D

−0.55

−0.71

42.2

7.25

Null

Phosphate

−12.9

−0.69

358

362

D

7.90

0.79

152

94.4

I

PGE

2.18

0.71

131

59.6

I

−2.33

−0.84

170

26.1

D

Rare earths

10.0

0.28

977

488

I

−21.1

−0.48

1123

409

D

Rhenium

−9.84

−0.76

131

165

D

−1.71

−0.82

68.7

19.7

D

Rutile

0.48

0.11

97.9

82.3

Null

−3.76

−0.73

109.2

48.5

D

Silver

0.01

0.05

17.7

3.48

Null

0.10

0.30

17.7

3.08

Null

Tantalum

−0.99

−0.31

76.8

42.9

Null

1.47

0.41

64.6

33.5

I

Tellurium

−5.08

−0.70

216

92.0

D

−7.07

−0.82

196

77.2

D

Tin

−0.13

−0.31

26.6

8.50

Null

−0.54

−0.67

24.9

7.55

Null

Tungsten

−0.54

−0.66

56.5

16.0

Null

−0.69

−0.70

49.7

9.25

Null

Vanadium

−1.66

−0.33

248

73.0

D

0.06

0.01

231

64.7

Null

Zinc

−0.06

−0.42

21.0

2.98

Null

−0.13

−0.48

20.2

2.53

Null

Zirconium

−1.68

−0.73

67.8

44.3

D

0.13

0.11

43.2

10.9

Null

  1. “Slope” indicates the slope of the least-squares best fit line for the data in question, R2 indicates the correlation coefficient between reserve/production data and time. STDEV or standard deviation documents the variation in the data, and “Trend” indicates the overall trend of the slope of the reserve/production ratio best fit line over time, with I = slope increasing by >1, D = slope decreasing by < −1, and Null = change of either <1 or > −1.