Metals pervade industrial life and are the obvious first choice for making industrial, professional or consumer durables of small to enormous dimensions. Products of metal range in size from a pin to a major suspension bridge or an ocean-going liner. Having said this, it is useful to understand the realities of sources of metals and their general supply characteristics, both in terms of world raw material availability and in terms of stock materials obtainable from a metals supplier. Varjian & Hall (1984) review the modern situation in some detail. A combination of high metal stocks in the London Metal Exchange warehouses, and a slow economic growth worldwide has conspired to put down the pressure on prices and hence to depress the staffing levels and profitability of mining and mining-related jobs in many countries. The authors then consider the mid-1980s situation for several metals.

In 1983, world production of aluminium was about 14 million tons of which half originated in the Americas, prices being around $0.8 per pound. Chromium is largely produced as chemical compounds, the amount of chromium-based alloys and basis metal being relatively small in the light of an annual South African chromium ore production of 2.4 million metric tons. The copper industry in 1983 continued to suffer from world oversupply of the metal, of which almost eight million tons were produced in the year, at prices of the order of $0.75 per pound.