Brooks, David B.

English

University of New Mexico

Volume 8 
Issue 1 Winter 1968 
Winter 1968 
Flawn, Mineral Resources: Geology, Engineering, Economics, 
Politics, Law 
David B. Brooks 
Recommended Citation 
David B. Brooks, Flawn, Mineral Resources: Geology, Engineering, Economics, Politics, Law, 8 Nat. 
Resources J. 200 (1968). 
Available at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol8/iss1/13 
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UNM Digital Repository. It has 
been accepted for inclusion in Natural Resources Journal by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For 
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Mineral Resources: Geology, Engineering, Economics,
Polifics, Law
By
PETER T. FLAWN
New York: Rand McNally & Company. 1966.
Pp. xxi, 406, $9.00
The recipe for most books on mineral resources is simple: from
the growing list of mineral commodities select an assortment of me-
tallics, nonmetallics, and mineral fuels; compile notes on their oc-
currence, technology of production, and uses; add statistical tables
and a map or two; bind. A number of such books have appeared
since World War II, some of them quite useful. Few, however, have
gone beyond description. Happily, Dr. Flawn's book does.
As indicated by the title, he casts his net broadly, and if the mesh
is too coarse for the results to be entirely successful, it is not for
lack of scope. The usual information on specific commodities is rele-
gated to a single long chapter while other chapters lead the reader
logically from consideration of the concept of a mineral resource
through the geology of ore deposits and a history of mineral pro-
duction into a review of the legal framework and political economy
of resource use today. A final chapter is devoted to the question of
future supplies. While much of this material is necessarily descrip-
tive, Dr. Flawn, who is Director of the Bureau of Economic Geol-
ogy at the University of Texas, never hesitates to note controversial
aspects and to express his own views. Thus, the chapter on owner-
ship of mineral resources contains a section on the need for modern-
ization of American mineral law. Even the chapters on history ex-
hibit a refreshing candor. For example, following his observation
that the English settled down to farming whereas the Spanish plun-
dered the New World, Dr. Flawn cautions that "virtuous smugness
about one's ancestors should be tempered by consideration that they
found nothing to plunder on the Atlantic seaboard of the North
American continent, . .
Despite its laudable attempt to integrate disciplines, many readers
will find the book dissatisfying for two related reasons. First, there
is a regrettable lack of economic analysis at just those points where
it would prove most useful. Second, there is a tendency to overstate
1. P. 122.
the "industry" position when it conflicts with alternate ways of deal-
ing with economic and political issues. The importance of the first
point alone is debatable. Dr. Flawn is not unmindful of the influence
of cost and price, especially as they relate to reserves and resources.
In this regard, in introduction of the economics of exhaustible re-
sources and of common property resources would have helped ex-
plain both the ownership patterns that have developed in the min-
erals industry and the structure of the industry (an aspect that is
ignored throughout the book).
Serious oversimplification results, however, when lack of economic
analysis is combined with lack of balance in discussing current con-
troversies. The oversimplification is especially regrettable because
the book is addressed to a wide audience. Gaps are particularly ap-
parent in the "Minerals and Government" chapter, which is the
most ambitious but also the most disappointing in the book. To
choose but one example, the question of gold as a monetary metal is
discussed at some length,2 and favorable comments are made about
the international gold standard. Yet almost no mention is made of
the domestic economic adjustments required by adherence to a strict
gold standard. This omission weights the case against the managed
money systems that "countries under the economic philosophies of
Karl Marx or Lord Keynes [have] instituted."'8 On the other hand,
when Dr. Flawn focuses on the effects of mining on the environment,
which he frequently does, he generally recognizes the mutually sup-
porting roles of industry and government.
This, then, is a book that can be recommended, albeit with some
misgivings, to the "generalist" desiring to go beyond a first course
on minerals. The specialist, however, should not ignore the book.
An economist can learn much about geology and the problems of a
mining firm, and the minerals engineer something about the eco-
nomic and political relationships that affect production and consump-
tion. In addition, the chapter on ecology should be read by anyone
taking a doctrinaire view of the pollution problem.
DAVID B. BROOKS*
2. Pp. 210-16.
3. P. 215.
* Chief, Division of Economic Analysis, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Mines,
Washington, D.C.
JANUARY 1968] BOOK REFIEWS


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