ABSTRACT
The fundamental nature of the mining industry with respect to innovation is often questioned. Is it the conservative, stodgy industry commonly depicted by its critics or is it instead a sophisticated, high-tech industry as championed by many of its proponents? One way to address this question is to estimate the rate of revolutionary technological advances within mining and compare this rate to that of other industries. The number of revolutionary technologies developed in various sectors of the worldwide mining industry over the last century equate to a rate of one to three per century, a rate comparable to other “mature” industries such as cement- and glass-making. In contrast, the microcomputing sector has had a revolutionary technology development rate roughly four times this. With respect to revolutionary innovation rates, mining appears to have far more in common with mature manufacturing industries than it does with the high-tech sector.
Another way to address the question is by using productivity statistics to proxy for innovation. The productivity rate of U.S. metal mining companies grossly compares (albeit at a slightly lower level) with the rates associated with general manufacturing. This relationship has held true for the last 50 years. In contrast, the high-tech sector has for the last two decades had productivity increases which greatly exceeded that of general manufacturing and metal mining rates. The data suggest that general (nonhigh-tech) manufacturing has had average productivity advances roughly 10% better than metal mining over the last two decades. In contrast, high-tech manufacturing has had annual productivity rates in excess of four times that for metal mining. Note that, for the most recent years for which data is available (2004–2006), U.S. metal mining actually had negative productivity advances.
There are several factors inherent to the high-tech sector that appear to account for its large rates of innovation and technological diffusion. These are (1) the large profıts readily available to the creators and implementers of new technology, (2) the rapid rate at which new technologies in this sector can be developed and commercialized, (3) the easy entry conditions owing to low capital requirements and lack of large economy of scale, (4) the market focus on new products, (5) liberal licensing, and (6) the extreme mobility of professionals and tacit knowledge. These factors are not those typically shared by the mining industry. It would thus appear unlikely that the mining industry will ever approach the productivity rates of the high-tech sector on a sustained, long-term basis.
This is not to say that mining is not innovative. It clearly is. But then, this is true of other industries as well. How then, does the mining industry rate? All told, not too badly when compared to other manufacturing industries, but it pales when compared to the high-tech sector.
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