4. US producer is then either faced with new competition or forced to put plants abroad and face the rising crescendo of the voice of US labor protesting against the multinational corporation with the claim that it is exporting jobs. And finally, how well the US customers of the mining industry will fare in competition with the Europeans and the Japanese depends in large measure on how accurately they appraise the changing world and how intelligently they react to cope with these changes. So far they have run a very poor second to the Japanese who were quicker to recognize what was taking place and to position themselves to take full advantage of it. In less than two decades Japan has converted herself from a nation dependent upon high cost imported raw materials to one blessed with an abundance of available low cost raw materials. They have done this by decreasing their transportation and handling costs through the development and use of big ships, deep harbors and plants located on tidewater. They have already tied up much of the newer low-cost mineral production and have made possible new mineral developments by promising to purchase the output of new mines under long-term contracts, a device which has assisted the miner in obtaining financing. More recently they have offered directly debt financing and now even equity financing. They have dealt with their customers fairly and sympathetically and they have made out of themselves an economic competitor that the world must recognize. So the US user of minerals will find himself faced with new foreign competition in his own business, increased competition for the purchase of minerals from Japan and others, and possibly higher costs for minerals unless the new ore bodies are rich enough to offset the added burdens the miner must bear. If the US is going to hold its place, we as a new generation of top